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Pulmonary artery imaging under free‐breathing using golden‐angle radial b SSFP MRI : a proof of concept
Author(s) -
Fyrdahl Alexander,
Vargas Paris Roberto,
Nyrén Sven,
Holst Karen,
Ugander Martin,
Lindholm Peter,
Sigfridsson Andreas
Publication year - 2018
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.27177
Subject(s) - radial artery , steady state free precession imaging , nuclear medicine , artifact (error) , medicine , contrast (vision) , breathing , image quality , flip angle , blood flow , magnetic resonance imaging , radiology , anatomy , artery , cardiology , artificial intelligence , computer science , image (mathematics)
Purpose To evaluate the feasibility of an improved motion and flow robust methodology for imaging the pulmonary vasculature using non‐contrast‐enhanced, free‐breathing, golden‐angle radial MRI. Methods Healthy volunteers ( n = 10, age 46 ± 11 years, 50% female) and patients ( n = 2, ages 27 and 84, both female) were imaged at 1.5 T using a Cartesian and golden‐angle radial 2D balanced SSFP pulse sequence. The acquisitions were made under free breathing without contrast agent enhancement. The radial acquisitions were reconstructed at 3 temporal footprints. All series were scored from 1 to 5 for perceived diagnostic quality, artifact level, and vessel sharpness in multiple anatomical locations. In addition, vessel sharpness and blood‐to‐blood clot contrast were measured. Results Quantitative measurements showed higher vessel sharpness for golden‐angle radial ( n = 76, 0.79 ± 0.11 versus 0.71 ± 0.16, p < .05). Blood‐to‐blood clot contrast was found to be 23% higher in golden‐angle radial in the 2 patients. At comparable temporal footprints, golden‐angle radial was scored higher for diagnostic quality (mean ± SD, 2.3 ± 0.7 versus 2.2 ± 0.6, p < .01) and vessel sharpness (2.2 ± 0.8 versus 2.1 ± 0.5, p < .01), whereas the artifact level did not differ (3.0 ± 0.9 versus 3.0 ± 1.0, p = .80). The ability to retrospectively choose a temporal resolution and perform sliding‐window reconstructions was demonstrated in patients. Conclusion In pulmonary artery imaging, the motion and flow robustness of a radial trajectory does both improve image quality over Cartesian trajectory in healthy volunteers, and allows for flexible selection of temporal footprints and the ability to perform real‐time sliding window reconstructions, which could potentially provide further diagnostic insight.