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Coronary Artery Anomalies and Variants: Technical Feasibility of Assessment with Coronary MR Angiography at 3 T¹

¹ From the Department of Diagnostic Radiology (A.M.G.), National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (A.M.G., D.R.R., A.E.A.), and National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (R.I.P.), National Institutes of Health, Bldg 10, Room 3-5340, MSC 1263, 10 Center Dr, Bethesda, MD 20892; Department of Radiology, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, Md (V.B.H.); Clinical Sites Research Program, Philips Research North America, Bethesda, Md (D.A.H.); and Departments of Radiology, Medicine, and Electrical and Computer Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md (M.S.). Received February 8, 2007; revision requested April 11; revision received July 2; accepted August 1; final version accepted September 25. Address correspondence to A.M.G. (e-mail: agharib{at}nhlbi.nih.gov).

The purpose of this study was to prospectively use a whole-heart three-dimensional (3D) coronary magnetic resonance (MR) angiography technique specifically adapted for use at 3 T and a parallel imaging technique (sensitivity encoding) to evaluate coronary arterial anomalies and variants (CAAV). This HIPAA-compliant study was approved by the local institutional review board, and informed consent was obtained from all participants. Twenty-two participants (11 men, 11 women; age range, 18–62 years) were included. Ten participants were healthy volunteers, whereas 12 participants were patients suspected of having CAAV. Coronary MR angiography was performed with a 3-T MR imager. A 3D free-breathing navigator-gated and vector electrocardiographically–gated segmented k-space gradient-echo sequence with adiabatic T2 preparation pulse and parallel imaging (sensitivity encoding) was used. Whole-heart acquisitions (repetition time msec/echo time msec, 4/1.35; 20° flip angle; 1 x 1 x 2-mm acquired voxel size) lasted 10–12 minutes. Mean examination time was 41 minutes ± 14 (standard deviation). Findings included aneurysms, ectasia, arteriovenous fistulas, and anomalous origins. The 3D whole-heart acquisitions developed for use with 3 T are feasible for use in the assessment of CAAV.

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