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(Circulation. 2005;111:1019-1026.)
© 2005 American Heart Association, Inc.

Imaging

Artifact-Free Coronary Magnetic Resonance Angiography and Coronary Vessel Wall Imaging in the Presence of a New, Metallic, Coronary Magnetic Resonance Imaging Stent

Elmar Spuentrup, MD; Alexander Ruebben, MD; Andreas Mahnken, MD; Matthias Stuber, PhD; Christian Kölker, MS; Trung Hieu Nguyen, BS; Rolf W. Günther, MD; Arno Buecker, MD

From the Department of Diagnostic Radiology (E.S., A.R., A.M., C.K., T.H.N., R.W.G., A.B.), Technical University of Aachen, Aachen, Germany, and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (M.S.), Baltimore, Md.

Reprint requests to Arno Buecker, MD, Department of Diagnostic Radiology, University Hospital, Aachen University of Technology, Pauwelsstrasse 30, 52057 Aachen, Germany. E-mail buecker{at}rad.rwth-aachen.de

Received May 20, 2004; revision received October 6, 2004; accepted November 10, 2004.

Background— Coronary in-stent restenosis cannot be directly assessed by magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) because of the local signal void of currently used stainless steel stents. The aim of this study was to investigate the potential of a new, dedicated, coronary MR imaging (MRI) stent for artifact-free, coronary MRA and in-stent lumen and vessel wall visualization.

Methods and Results— Fifteen prototype stents were deployed in coronary arteries of 15 healthy swine and investigated with a double-oblique, navigator-gated, free-breathing, T2-prepared, 3D cartesian gradient-echo sequence; a T2-prepared, 3D spiral gradient-echo sequence; and a T2-prepared, 3D steady-state, free-precession coronary MRA sequence. Furthermore, black-blood vessel wall imaging by a dual-inversion-recovery, turbo spin-echo sequence was performed. Artifacts of the stented vessel segment and signal intensities of the coronary vessel lumen inside and outside the stent were assessed. With all investigated sequences, the vessel lumen and wall could be visualized without artifacts, including the stented vessel segment. No signal intensity alterations inside the stent when compared with the vessel lumen outside the stent were found.

Conclusions— The new, coronary MRI stent allows for completely artifact-free coronary MRA and vessel wall imaging.

Key Words: stents • artifacts • restenosis • magnetic resonance imaging • coronary disease