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Published on: January 4, 2013
Reproducibility of black-blood coronary vessel wall MR imaging
Tuncay Hazirolan1, Sandeep N Gupta, Mona A Mohamed
1Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21287, USA.
Insights
This study shows that 2D black-blood coronary magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is highly reproducible for assessing coronary artery disease. The technique offers reliable measurements of coronary vessel wall thickness for serial evaluations.
Area of Science:
- Cardiovascular Imaging
- Medical Physics
Background:
- Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) offers high spatial resolution for coronary artery wall imaging.
- Previous studies show significant differences in coronary vessel wall thickness between patients with atherosclerotic disease and controls.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the inter-study reproducibility (repeatability) of cross-sectional 2D coronary vessel wall MRI.
- To evaluate the reliability of a black-blood technique for coronary imaging.
Main Methods:
- Twelve healthy adults underwent cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging using a 1.5 T system.
- A double inversion recovery fast spin-echo (FSE) sequence was employed for black-blood imaging.
- Each subject was scanned twice on separate days to assess reproducibility.
Main Results:
- The mean difference in right coronary artery (RCA) lumen area between scans was 0.004 mm², with a coefficient of repeatability (COR) of +/- 0.06 mm².
- The mean difference in RCA wall thickness between scans was 0.02 mm, with a COR of +/-0.39 mm.
- These results indicate high precision in measurements.
Conclusions:
- Cross-sectional coronary vessel wall imaging using 2D double-inversion recovery FSE demonstrates high reproducibility.
- This technique is suitable for serial evaluation of coronary vessel walls.
- The findings support its use in assessing atherosclerotic coronary artery disease.
Purpose:
New magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) methods can provide high spatial resolution images of the coronary artery wall, and statistically significant differences in coronary vessel wall thickness between atherosclerotic disease patients and control subjects have been shown. The aim of this study is to assess inter-study reproducibility (i.e., repeatability) of the cross-sectional 2D coronary vessel wall MRI using a black-blood technique.
Methods And Results:
Twelve healthy adult subjects were studied with the use of a commercial 1.5 T CMR system. A double inversion recovery fast spin-echo (FSE) sequence (black blood) was used. Each subject was scanned twice on different days. The mean RCA lumen area difference between study 1 and study 2 was 0.004 mm2, and the coefficient of repeatability (COR) was +/- 0.06 mm2. The mean RCA wall thickness difference between study 1 and study 2 was 0.02 mm, and the COR was +/-0.39 mm.
Conclusion:
Cross-sectional coronary vessel wall imaging with 2D double-IR FSE is highly reproducible for serial evaluation of coronary vessel walls and atherosclerotic coronary artery disease.
