Zhang Yang, Zhang Xinna, Jiang Yuqi, Yang Panpan, Hu Xiankuo, Peng Bin, Yue Xiuzheng, Li Yuanyuan, Ma Peiqi, Yuan Yushan, Yu Yongqiang, Liu Bin, Li Xiaohu
Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Research Center of Clinical Medical Imaging, Anhui Province Clinical Image Quality Control Center, Hefei, 230032, Anhui Province, China.
Department of Radiology, Fuyang People's Hospital, Fuyang, 236015, Anhui Province, China.
Insights Imaging. 2023 Feb 15;14(1):35. doi: 10.1186/s13244-023-01378-w.
The relatively long scan time has hampered the clinical use of whole-heart noncontrast coronary magnetic resonance angiography (NCMRA). The compressed sensitivity encoding (SENSE) technique, also known as the CS technique, has been found to improve scan times. This study aimed to identify the optimal CS acceleration factor for NCMRA.
Thirty-six participants underwent four NCMRA sequences: three sequences using the CS technique with acceleration factors of 4, 5, and 6, and one sequence using the conventional SENSE technique with the acceleration factor of 2. Coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) was considered as a reference sequence. The acquisition times of the four NCMRA sequences were assessed. The correlation and agreement between the visible vessel lengths obtained via CCTA and NCMRA were also assessed. The image quality scores and contrast ratio (CR) of eight coronary artery segments from the four NCMRA sequences were quantitatively evaluated.
The mean acquisition time of the conventional SENSE was 343 s, while that of CS4, CS5, and CS6 was 269, 215, and 190 s, respectively. The visible vessel length from the CS4 sequence showed good correlation and agreement with CCTA. The image quality score and CR from the CS4 sequence were not statistically significantly different from those in the other groups (p > 0.05). Moreover, the image score and CR showed a decreasing trend with the increase in the CS factor.
The CS technique could significantly shorten the acquisition time of NCMRA. The CS sequence with an acceleration factor of 4 was generally acceptable for NCMRA in clinical settings to balance the image quality and acquisition time.
相对较长的扫描时间阻碍了全心非对比冠状动脉磁共振血管造影（NCMRA）的临床应用。已发现压缩感知编码（SENSE）技术，也称为CS技术，可缩短扫描时间。本研究旨在确定NCMRA的最佳CS加速因子。
36名参与者接受了四个NCMRA序列：三个使用CS技术的序列，加速因子分别为4、5和6，以及一个使用传统SENSE技术、加速因子为2的序列。冠状动脉计算机断层扫描血管造影（CCTA）被视为参考序列。评估了四个NCMRA序列的采集时间。还评估了通过CCTA和NCMRA获得的可见血管长度之间的相关性和一致性。对四个NCMRA序列中八个冠状动脉节段的图像质量评分和对比率（CR）进行了定量评估。
传统SENSE的平均采集时间为343秒，而CS4、CS5和CS6的平均采集时间分别为269、215和190秒。CS4序列的可见血管长度与CCTA显示出良好的相关性和一致性。CS4序列的图像质量评分和CR与其他组相比无统计学显著差异（p>0.05）。此外，图像评分和CR随着CS因子的增加呈下降趋势。
CS技术可显著缩短NCMRA的采集时间。在临床环境中，加速因子为4的CS序列对于NCMRA在平衡图像质量和采集时间方面通常是可以接受的。
