Adaptive vessel tracking: Automated computation of vessel trajectories for improved efficiency in 2D coronary MR angiography

• Published in: Journal of magnetic resonance imaging 2001-10, Vol.14 (4), p.368-373
• Main Authors: Saranathan, Manojkumar, Ho, Vincent B., Hood, Maureen N., Foo, Thomas K. F., Hardy, Christopher J.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: CMRA; Coronary Angiography - methods; Coronary Vessels - physiology; Female; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Angiography - methods; Male; Middle Aged; multi-slice; spiral imaging; vessel tracking
• ISSN: 1053-1807; 1522-2586
• DOI: 10.1002/jmri.1196

A new method was investigated for improving the efficiency of ECG‐gated coronary magnetic resonance angiography (CMRA) by accurate, automated tracking of the vessel motion over the cardiac cycle. Vessel tracking was implemented on a spiral gradient‐echo pulse sequence with sub‐millimeter in‐plane spatial resolution as well as high image signal to noise ratio. Breath hold 2D CMRA was performed in 18 healthy adult subjects (mean age 46 ± 14 years). Imaging efficiency, defined as the percentage of the slices where more than 30 mm of the vessel is visualized, was computed in multi‐slice spiral scans with and without vessel tracking. There was a significant improvement in the efficiency of the vessel tracking sequence compared to the multi‐slice sequence (56% vs. 32%, P < 0.001). The imaging efficiency increased further when the true motion of the coronary arteries (determined using a cross correlation algorithm) was used for vessel tracking as opposed to a linear model for motion (71% vs. 57%, P < 0.05). The motion of the coronary arteries was generally found to be linear during the systolic phase and nonlinear during the diastolic phase. The use of subject‐tailored, automated tracking of vessel positions resulted in improved efficiency of coronary artery illustration on breath held 2D CMRA. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2001;14:368–373. Published 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.