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Direct coronary motion extraction from a 2D fat image navigator for prospectively gated coronary MR angiography
Author(s) -
Kawaji Keigo,
Spincemaille Pascal,
Nguyen Thanh D.,
Thimmappa Nandadeepa,
Cooper Mitchell A.,
Prince Martin R.,
Wang Yi
Publication year - 2014
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.24698
Subject(s) - magnetic resonance imaging , medicine , image quality , diaphragm (acoustics) , coronary arteries , epicardial fat , steady state free precession imaging , radiology , computer vision , nuclear medicine , artificial intelligence , cardiology , computer science , artery , image (mathematics) , physics , adipose tissue , acoustics , loudspeaker
Purpose Direct 2D tracking of cardiac motion may provide superior respiratory navigator gating for coronary magnetic resonance angiography compared to conventional liver‐diaphragm navigators. However, additional 2D processing for motion extraction is unsuitable for real‐time prospective gating. In this work, a 2D fat‐selective image navigator, which delineates the epicardial fat surrounding coronary arteries, is developed to directly monitor epicardial fat motion at every heartbeat in real‐time for prospective gating. Methods The proposed navigator is incorporated into a real‐time interactive software that allows rapid setup and efficient motion extraction, and runs on standard clinical hardware without any additional dedicated components for processing. The proposed 2D cardiac fat image navigator was compared with the conventional 1D diaphragm navigator in free‐breathing b‐SSFP coronary MRAs in 12 healthy volunteers at 1.5T. Results Real‐time motion extraction from 2D cardiac fat navigator images was feasible within 20 ms, enabling successful prospectively gated coronary magnetic resonance angiographies in all subjects. Compared to 1D diaphragmatic navigator, 2D fat image navigator reduced scan time by 38% ( P < 0.0005), and significantly improved vessel sharpness, myocardial suppression, and image quality ( P < 0.05). Conclusion This demonstrates the feasibility of a 3D SSFP coronary magnetic resonance angiography sequence using a 2D epicardial fat image as a navigator for real‐time prospective motion tracking. Magn Reson Med 71:599–607, 2014. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.