Naoyuki Takei¹, Shiori Amemiya², Tsuyoshi Ueyama³, Keita Fujii³, Osamu Abe², and Tetsuya Wakayama^1
1GE Healthcare, Tokyo, Japan, ²Radiology, The University of Tokyo Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan, ³Radiology, The University of Tokyo Hospital, Tokyo, Japan

Conventional 3DTOF MOTSA MRA technique without contrast agent is an established technique for carotid artery examination. The scan time is relatively long to have opportunity to improve. We have explored 3DTOF with two-point Dixon acquisition to achieve faster scan time by optimizing scan parameters and dealing with Water-Fat swap issue where B0 inhomogeneity and strong susceptibility exist at off-center scan in multi-slab acquisitions. The proposed Dixon MRA offers an alternative approach to conventional 3DTOF with about 4.2 times faster acquisition and better image contrast between artery and muscle for carotid MRA.

Yurong Ma¹, Juan Liang¹, Na Han¹, Kai Ai², and Jing Zhang^1
1Department of Magnetic Resonance, Lanzhou University Second Hospital, Lanzhou, China, ²Philips healthcare, Xi'an, China

In this study, the non-contrast whole-heart coronary magnetic resonance angiography (NCE-CMRA) is used to evaluate the coronary artery damage in Kawasaki Disease (KD). The NCE-CMRA and ultrasound images of children with Kawasaki disease (KD) are retrospectively analyzed. Compared with echocardiography, the NCE-CMRA has its unique advantages in displaying coronary artery, such as high image resolution, good soft tissue contrast and strong signal to noise ratio. Furthermore, NCE-CMRA can clearly and directly show the damaged coronary artery. Therefore, it is a potential alternative to ultrasound for imaging of the coronary artery in children with KD.

Daichi Murayama¹, Takayuki Sakai¹, Masami Yoneyama², Jihun Kwon², and Shigehiro Ochi^1
1Department of Radiology, Eastern Chiba Medical Center, Chiba, Japan, ²Philips Japan, Tokyo, Japan

TOF-MRA sometimes cannot delineate the vessel clearly depending on the vessel orientation. Additionally, insufficient fat suppression can occur in FS-T1-VISTA, it may obscure the plaque depiction. we have developed a new sequence, termed Phase-contrast ANgiography with Dark-blood Application (PANDA), which can simultaneously acquire bright-blood image (MRA) and vessel-wall images (VWI) using the phase contrast method. There was no difference in the visualization ability of carotid plaque between PANDA-VWI and FS T1 VISTA. PANDA-MRA better visualized around the aorta compared to TOF-MRA. PANDA is useful method for simultaneous acquisition of MRA and VWI images.

Eric R. Muir^1
1Radiology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY, United States

The retina has highly structured laminar organization, with two separate blood supplies, the retinal and the choroidal blood flow layers. Retinal MRI has generally used a single thick 2D slice. Extension to 3D retinal MRI is difficult due to the curvature of the eye and limited SNR at the needed high resolution. A new acquisition strategy for MRI of curved objects was developed, in which high-resolution is acquired perpendicular to the retina but with low-resolution tangent to the retina. This approach gave significant gains in SNR and provided laminar resolution of the retinal and choroidal blood flow in 3D. 

Gang Zhang¹, Wei Xing², Tingting Li², Yan Zheng¹, Ying Huang², Junjing He², and Xiuzheng Yue^3
1The First Affiliated Hospital of Henan University of CM, Zhengzhou, China, ²Department of Magnetic Resonance, The First Affiliated Hospital of Henan University of CM, Zhengzhou, China, ³Department of Magnetic Resonance, Philips Healthcare, Zhengzhou, China

Due to the narrow diameter, tortuous route of coronary arteries, and the interference of respiration and heartbeats during scanning, MR coronary angiography (MRCA) remains challenge. In 3.0T MR systems, an improved 3D Balanced Turbo Field Echo (B-TFE) sequence is often used for MRCA[1,2], however, 3D mDIXON sequences have been applied for clinical application recently.[3,4] In this study, the subjective imaging quality, objective imaging quality and image authenticity indexes of MRCA with two imaging sequences were compared to analysis. Results showed that B-TFE had better subjective evaluation than mDixon, but mDIXON had better objective quality evaluation for SNR and CNR. 

Ali Nahardani^1,2, Katja Grün³, Martin Krämer², Karl-Heinz Herrmann², Andrea Schrepper⁴, Sara Moradi¹, Jürgen R. Reichenbach², Marcus Franz³, and Verena Hoerr^1,2,5
1Heart Center Bonn, Department of Internal Medicine II, University Hospital Bonn, Bonn, Germany, ²Medical Physics Group, Institute of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, Jena University Hospital, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany, ³Department of Internal Medicine I, Division of Cardiology, Angiology, Pneumology, and Intensive Medical Care, Jena University Hospital, Jena, Germany, ⁴Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Jena University Hospital, Jena, Germany, ⁵Translational Research Imaging Center (TRIC), Clinic for Radiology, University Hospital Muenster, Muenster, Germany

The current preclinical study aims to investigate the associativity between the ventricular-arterial coupling index (VAC) derived by CMR and microscopic vascular changes in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). To this end, three stages of disease were incorporated in the study: healthy, moderate, and severe. All animals underwent CMR and echocardiography. The corresponding lung tissue was also assessed histologically. The right VAC could predict the presence of histopathological changes with r=-0.95 and had a strong correlation with tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (r=0.90).

Fengming Tao¹, Li Tao¹, Wei Zhu¹, Fajin Lv¹, Yongmei Li¹, Haitao YANG¹, Zhiwei Zhang¹, and Ke Jiang^2
1The first affiliated hospital of Chongqing medical university, Chongqing, China, ²Philips Healthcare, Beijing, China

Relaxation-Enhanced Angiography without Contrast and Triggering (REACT) is a MR angiography technique without cardiac triggering, breath holding and contrast agent injection and is able to show robust blood-to-tissue contrast over multiple anatomies. This study aims to investigate the feasibility of REACT on central veins by comparing it with conventional CE-MRA and catheter angiography. Results showed that the image quality acquired from REACT was comparable to that from CE-MRA and there was no difference in central venous stenosis evaluated by REACT, CE-MRA and angiography.

Zhigang Wu¹, Yajing Zhang², Xiuquan Hu¹, Jing Zhang¹, Fei Zeng¹, Xiaofang Xu¹, Guangyu Jiang³, Yan Zhao³, Guillaume Gilbert⁴, and Jiazheng Wang^1
1Philips Healthcare, Beijing, China, ²MR Clinical Science, Philips Healthcare (Suzhou), Suzhou, China, ³MR R&D, Philips Healthcare (Suzhou), Suzhou, China, ⁴Philips Healthcare, Precision Diagnosis, Hillmount, ON, Canada

Diffusion MRI could provide unique information non-invasively. However, it is still a technical challenge due to the intrinsic non-rigid motion during the cardiac cycle, displacement of the myocardium due to respiratory motion, field inhomogeneity, and short T1 and T2 values. Parallel imaging and Zoom imaging based on 2D RF (iZoom) could both reduce the distortion dramatically, second order flow compensated diffusion could be used to decrease the impact of motion. We propose a solution that combines iZoom, SENSE and the 2nd flow compensated diffusion to generate a robust cardiac diffusion MRI, its robustness was validated by a preliminary study.

caiyun shi^1,2, yuanyuan liu¹, guanxu cheng³, yulong qi³, haifeng wang¹, lei zhang¹, xin liu¹, hairong zheng¹, dong liang¹, and yanjie zhu^1
1Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, shenzhen, China, ²Shenzhen College of Advanced Technology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, shenzhen, China, ³Peking University Shenzhen Hospital, shenzhen, China

Three-dimensional (3D) black-blood MRI is a promising noninvasive imaging technique for assessing aortic atherosclerotic plaque. In this work, a low rank patch-based technique is proposed, and combined with a 3D modulated vFA-FSE sequence for high-resolution thoracic aorta imaging. The comparison was conducted on healthy volunteers and compared against a conventional GRAPPA acquisition to assess the feasibility of the proposed scheme. The results showed the reconstruction scheme was able to visualize the lumen areas clearly and improve the vessel sharpness and contrast ratio significantly.

Zixian Chen¹, Junqiang Lei¹, Shunlin Guo², Zheng Zhang³, Shihua Zhao⁴, and Minjie Lu^4
1Department of Radiology, The First Hospital of Lanzhou University, Intelligent Imaging Medical Engineering Research Center of Gansu Province, Accurate Image Collaborative Innovation International Science and Technology Cooperation Base of Gansu Province, Radiological Clinical Medicine Research Center of Gansu Province, Lanzhou, China, ²Radiology, The First Hospital of Lanzhou University, Intelligent Imaging Medical Engineering Research Center of Gansu Province, Accurate Image Collaborative Innovation International Science and Technology Cooperation Base of Gansu Province, Radiological Clinical Medicine Research Center of Gansu Province, Lanzhou, China, ³Department of Cardiology, The first Hospital of Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China, ⁴Department of Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Cardiovascular Imaging and Intervention Center, State Key Laboratory of Cardiovascular Disease，Fuwai Hospital, National Center for Cardiovascular Diseases，Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China

To investigate the “sub-aortic complex (SAC)”, a new cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) derived parameter, for the detection and grading of left ventricular outflow tract (LVOT) obstruction in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) patients, compared with echocardiography and CMR 2D flow.

Wataru Ueki¹, Yoshiaki Morita¹, Yu Ueda², Masaru Shiotani¹, Tatsuhiro Yamamoto¹, Yasuhiro Nagai¹, Yasutoshi Ohta¹, Keizo Murakawa¹, and Tetsuya Fukuda^1
1National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Center, Suita, Japan, ²Philips Japan Ltd, Tokyo, Japan

The accelerated motion compensation (aMC) using higher order motion compensated gradients with asymmetric bipolar diffusion waveform can improve the image quality of cardiac DTI compared with conventional method and provide the relatively constant DTI marker. In LVH patients, aMC-DTI derived possible preliminary insights into detection of abnormal changes in myocardial microstructures in-vivo, even in segments without LGE.