Real-time interactive coronary MRA

An interactive real-time imaging system capable of rapid coronary artery im aging is described. High-resolution spiral and circular echo planar traject ories were used to achieve 0.8 x 1.6 mm(2) resolution in 135 ms (CEPI) or 1 .13 x 1.13 mm(2) resolution in 189 ms (spirals), over a 20-cm FOV. Using a sliding window reconstruction, display rates of up to 37 images/sec were ac hieved. Initial results indicate this technique can perform as a high-quali ty 2D coronary localizer and with SNR improvement may enable rapid screenin g of the coronary tree. (C) 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc.