PURPOSE: To set up a robust and patient-friendly whole-heart protocol based on 32-receive-channel technology that will potentially allow a large part of the patient population to be addressed. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Ten volunteers were examined on a clinical 1.5 T scanner equipped with a 32-channel data acquisition system using an experimental 32-element coil array. A magnetization-prepared, navigator-gated and -tracked 3D Cartesian balanced FFE sequence was used for whole-heart coronary MR angiography (MRA). With the use of sensitivity encoding (SENSE) and partial Fourier encoding for scan acceleration, nearly isotropic high-resolution data sets were acquired during free breathing in four minutes. RESULTS: A high contrast and sufficient signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) were obtained, which allowed visualization of the major vessels up to the distal regions and detection of major branches. Phase encoding in the anterior-posterior (AP) direction was the most favorable SENSE configuration and allowed a reasonable scan time reduction with moderate SENSE factors. CONCLUSION: The employed 32-receive channel technology enabled a robust trade-off among SNR, spatial resolution, and scan time. In this study the most robust results were obtained using the smallest possible SENSE factors for a given voxel size and scan time. Copyright 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
PURPOSE: To set up a robust and patient-friendly whole-heart protocol based on 32-receive-channel technology that will potentially allow a large part of the patient population to be addressed. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Ten volunteers were examined on a clinical 1.5 T scanner equipped with a 32-channel data acquisition system using an experimental 32-element coil array. A magnetization-prepared, navigator-gated and -tracked 3D Cartesian balanced FFE sequence was used for whole-heart coronary MR angiography (MRA). With the use of sensitivity encoding (SENSE) and partial Fourier encoding for scan acceleration, nearly isotropic high-resolution data sets were acquired during free breathing in four minutes. RESULTS: A high contrast and sufficient signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) were obtained, which allowed visualization of the major vessels up to the distal regions and detection of major branches. Phase encoding in the anterior-posterior (AP) direction was the most favorable SENSE configuration and allowed a reasonable scan time reduction with moderate SENSE factors. CONCLUSION: The employed 32-receive channel technology enabled a robust trade-off among SNR, spatial resolution, and scan time. In this study the most robust results were obtained using the smallest possible SENSE factors for a given voxel size and scan time. Copyright 2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Authors: Richard Winkelmann; Peter Börnert; Jan De Becker; Romhild Hoogeveen; Peter Mazurkewitz; Olaf Dössel Journal: MAGMA Date: 2006-11-24 Impact factor: 2.310
Authors: Richard M McCarthy; Vibhas S Deshpande; Nirat Beohar; Sheridan N Meyers; Steven M Shea; Jordin D Green; Xin Liu; Xiaoming Bi; F Scott Pereles; John Paul Finn; Charles J Davidson; James C Carr; Debiao Li Journal: Invest Radiol Date: 2007-10 Impact factor: 6.016