Background-Three-dimensional (3D) navigator-gated and prospectively correct
ed free-breathing coronary magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) allows for
submillimeter image resolution but suffers from poor contrast between coron
ary blood and myocardium. Data collected over >100 ms/heart beat are also s
usceptible to bulk cardiac and respiratory motion. To address these problem
s, we examined the effect of a T2 preparation prepulse (T2prep) for myocard
ial suppression and a shortened acquisition window on coronary definition.
Methods and Results-Eight healthy adult subjects and 5 patients with confir
med coronary artery disease (CAD) underwent free-breathing 3D MRA with and
without T2prep and with 120- and 60-ms data-acquisition windows. The T2prep
resulted in a 123% (P < 0.001) increase in contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR),
Coronary edge definition was improved by 33% (P < 0.001). Acquisition windo
w shortening from 120 to 60 ms resulted in better vessel definition (11%; P
< 0.001), Among patients with CAD, there was a good correspondence with di
sease.
Conclusions-Free-breathing, T2prep, 3D coronary MRA with a shorter acquisit
ion window resulted in improved CNR and better coronary artery definition,
allowing the assessment of coronary disease. This approach offers the poten
tial for free-breathing, noninvasive assessment of the major coronary arter
ies.