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Three‐dimensional MRI of coronary arteries using an intravascular contrast agent
Author(s) -
Li Debiao,
Dolan Robert P.,
Walovitch Richard C.,
Lauffer Randall B.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
magnetic resonance in medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.696
H-Index - 225
eISSN - 1522-2594
pISSN - 0740-3194
DOI - 10.1002/mrm.1910390621
Subject(s) - medicine , contrast (vision) , coronary arteries , angiography , nuclear medicine , radiology , blood flow , signal (programming language) , cardiology , artery , programming language , artificial intelligence , computer science
To assess the effectiveness of an intravascular contrast agent, MS‐325, for enhancing the vascular signal in coronary MR angiograms, six minipigs were studied using a three‐dimensional, gradient‐echo sequence with retrospective respiratory gating. To suppress the myocardial signal, preparatory RF pulses were applied before data acquisition. With the administration of MS‐325, the blood signal‐to‐noise ratio increased by 97‐276%, depending on the region of interest in which the blood signal was measured and the precontrast imaging sequence structures. The blood/myocardium contrast‐to‐noise ratio also significantly increased. High‐resolution images (0.58 × 0.58 × 1 mm 3 ) obtained from postmortem pig hearts demonstrated the potential delineation of coronary arteries with MS‐325. In conclusion, this study supports further evaluation of the utility of MS‐325 in improving coronary MR angiography in humans.