Intravascular MR imaging in a porcine animal model.

An opposed solenoid intravascular receiver coil is used in a series of five pigs to generate images of the aorta. Severe ghosting artifacts are shown to occur if the motion of the intravascular coil is not restricted with respect to the vessel wall. Restricting coil motion and saturating the blood signal superior to the imaging plane are shown to produce high quality MR images. Layers within the artery wall could be discerned and the results of the in vivo analysis compared favorably with high resolution MR images of the corresponding tissue after excision.