3D CORONARY MR-ANGIOGRAPHY IN MULTIPLE BREATH-HOLDS USING A RESPIRATORY FEEDBACK MONITOR

To reduce respiratory blur and ghosts in 3D coronary imaging, a data a cquisition scheme using consistent multiple breath-holds was implement ed. A navigator echo was acquired and processed in real time to dynami cally measure diaphragm position. This information was provided as a v isual prompt to the patient to maintain consistency in breath-hold lev els such that the variation range of diastolic heart position was less than 2 mm. Preliminary results indicate that this multiple breath-hol d acquisition scheme, compared with acquisition under respiration, can significantly reduce blur and ghost artifacts in 3D coronary imaging.