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3D coronary vessel wall imaging utilizing a local inversion technique with spiral image acquisition
R M Botnar1, W Y Kim, P Börnert
1Department of Medicine, Cardiovascular Division, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA. rbotnar@caregroup.harvard.edu
Insights
A new 3D imaging technique improves coronary artery visualization by effectively suppressing unwanted blood and tissue signals. This local inversion method enhances black blood coronary vessel wall imaging coverage and clarity.
Area of Science:
- Cardiovascular Imaging
- Medical Physics
Background:
- Current 2D black blood imaging offers limited coverage of the coronary artery tree.
- A 3D approach is needed for more extensive coronary artery imaging coverage.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and evaluate a novel 3D black blood imaging technique for improved coronary vessel wall visualization.
- To minimize artifacts from surrounding blood pools and respiratory motion in 3D coronary imaging.
Main Methods:
- Implementation of a novel local inversion technique combining nonselective and 2D selective inversion prepulses.
- Utilized a 3D-spiral readout for image acquisition in 10 subjects.
- Evaluated the suppression of signals from ventricular blood, myocardium, and chest wall.
Main Results:
- The local inversion technique effectively suppressed unwanted signals from ventricular blood, myocardium, and chest wall in all subjects.
- Residual respiratory motion artifacts were reduced.
- The coronary vessel wall was visualized throughout the entire 3D imaging volume.
Conclusions:
- The novel local inversion technique enables effective suppression of confounding signals in 3D black blood coronary vessel wall imaging.
- This technique facilitates comprehensive visualization of the coronary artery tree, overcoming limitations of 2D methods.
Abstract:
Current 2D black blood coronary vessel wall imaging suffers from a relatively limited coverage of the coronary artery tree. Hence, a 3D approach facilitating more extensive coverage would be desirable. The straightforward combination of a 3D-acquisition technique together with a dual inversion prepulse can decrease the effectiveness of the black blood preparation. To minimize artifacts from insufficiently suppressed blood signal of the nearby blood pools, and to reduce residual respiratory motion artifacts from the chest wall, a novel local inversion technique was implemented. The combination of a nonselective inversion prepulse with a 2D selective local inversion prepulse allowed for suppression of unwanted signal outside a user-defined region of interest. Among 10 subjects evaluated using a 3D-spiral readout, the local inversion pulse effectively suppressed signal from ventricular blood, myocardium, and chest wall tissue in all cases. The coronary vessel wall could be visualized within the entire imaging volume.