The application of breath hold phase velocity mapping techniques to the measurement of coronary artery blood flow velocity: phantom data and initial in vivo results.

A segmented kappa-space breath hold phase velocity mapping technique has been developed for the study of coronary artery blood flow velocity. In vitro validation has been performed using a number of pulsatile flow phantoms and the accuracy of the technique for determining the velocity increase at the site of a stenosis demonstrated in several phantom models. Examples of both in-plane and through-plane velocity maps of the left anterior descending and right coronary arteries of normal subjects in early diastole are presented. In one subject, through-plane velocity maps were obtained in the right and left anterior descending arteries throughout the cardiac cycle in order to generate flow velocity time curves. The problems associated with coronary artery velocity mapping are discussed.