Quantifying coronary sinus flow and global LV perfusion at 3T.

Area of Science:

• Cardiovascular Imaging
• Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Background:

• 1.5T MRI is the standard for cardiac imaging, but 3T MRI offers potential benefits for higher field imaging.
• Assessing global left ventricular (LV) perfusion and coronary flow reserve (CFR) provides crucial diagnostic information.
• Quantitative flow measurements in the coronary sinus (CS) are a key method for evaluating these parameters, but their feasibility at 3T using fast sequences has not been established.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the feasibility of measuring coronary sinus (CS) flow using segmented phase contrast MR (PC MR) at 3T.
• To assess global LV perfusion derived from CS flow measurements.
• To determine the repeatability of CS flow measurements within a breath-hold at 3T.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a clinical 3T MR scanner with segmented PC MR sequences.
• Employed parallel imaging to shorten acquisition times for breath-hold measurements.
• Calculated global LV perfusion by dividing CS flow by LV mass in twelve volunteers.

Main Results:

• The average CS flow was 88 ± 33 ml/min, and LV perfusion was 0.60 ± 0.22 ml/min/g.
• These values align with previously published data.
• The repeatability (1-error) of repeated measurements was 84% on average.

Conclusions:

• 3T MRI, combined with parallel imaging and segmented gradient echo sequences, allows for breath-hold quantification of CS flow.
• This technique enables the assessment of global LV perfusion within a single breath-hold.
• The findings support the potential of 3T MRI for advanced cardiac flow and perfusion assessments.