Real‐time interactive coronary MRA

Abstract
An interactive real‐time imaging system capable of rapid coronary artery imaging is described. High‐resolution spiral and circular echo planar trajectories were used to achieve 0.8 × 1.6 mm2 resolution in 135 ms (CEPI) or 1.13 × 1.13 mm2 resolution in 189 ms (spirals), over a 20‐cm FOV. Using a sliding window reconstruction, display rates of up to 37 images/sec were achieved. Initial results indicate this technique can perform as a high‐quality 2D coronary localizer and with SNR improvement may enable rapid screening of the coronary tree. Magn Reson Med 46:430–435, 2001.