Experimental evaluation of dual acceptance window weighting function for right coronary MR angiography at 3.0T

To shorten scanning time and increase the feasibility of experimental results, we performed right coronary artery magnetic resonance angiography (CMRA) at 3.0 T using dual acceptance window weighting function in 25 normal subjects. We examined these subjects using conventional navigator with fixed gating window and 6 dual acceptance window weighted gating (DAWG) sequences with different central weighted ratio (CWR). Compared with the conventional navigator sequence, DAWG sequences with CWRs of 20% and 25% increased the scanning efficiency by 30% and 26% respectively (P<.05), while maintaining good image quality; further the corresponding scanning time decreased from 2.12-1.64 and 1.69 min, respectively (P<.05). However, CWRs less than 15% caused image degradation to some extent. The coronary artery lengths and diameters did not show statistically significant differences between the two techniques (P>.05). Briefly, to avoid the problems caused by low navigator efficiency and to maintain comparable image quality, the weighted gating parameters of 3 mm width central acceptance window and 15 mm width outer acceptance window with CWR between 20% and 25% are recommended for right CMRA at 3 T.