Sparse 3D contrast-enhanced whole-heart imaging for coronary artery evaluation

BACKGROUND: We investigated the feasibility of evaluating coronary arteries with a contrast-enhanced (CE) self-navigated sparse isotropic 3D whole heart T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) study sequence. METHODS: A total of 22 consecutive patients underwent coronary angiography and/or cardiac computed tomography (CT) including cardiac MRI. The image quality was evaluated on a 3-point Likert scale. Inter-reader variability for image quality was analyzed with Cohen’s kappa for the main coronary segments (left circumflex [LCX], left anterior descending [LAD], right coronary artery [RCA]) and the left main trunk (LMT). RESULTS: Inter-reader agreement for image quality of the coronary tree ranged from substantial to perfect, with a Cohen’s kappa of 0.722 (RCA(mid)) to 1 (LCX(prox)). The LMT had the best image quality. Image quality of the proximal vessel segments differed significantly from the mid- and distal segments (RCA(prox) vs. RCA(dist), p < 0.05). The LCX segments showed no significant difference in image quality along the vessel length (LCX(prox) vs. LCX(dist), p = n.s.). The mean acquisition time for the study sequence was 553 s (±46 s). CONCLUSION: Coronary imaging with a sparse 3D whole-heart sequence is feasible in a reasonable amount of time producing good-quality imaging. Image quality was poorer in distal coronary segments and along the entire course of the LCX. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version of this article (10.1007/s00059-021-05091-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.