Parallel imaging in cardiovascular MRI: methods and applications

Cardiovascular MR imaging (CVMR) has become a valuable modality for the non‐invasive detection and characterization of cardiovascular diseases. CVMR requires high imaging speed and efficiency, which is fundamentally limited in conventional cardiovascular MRI studies. With the introduction of parallel imaging, alternative means for increasing acquisition speed beyond these limits have become available. In parallel imaging some image data are acquired simultaneously, using RF detector coil sensitivities to encode simultaneous spatial information that complements the information gleaned from sequential application of magnetic field gradients. The resulting improvements in imaging speed can be used in various ways, including shortening long examinations, improving spatial resolution and/or anatomic coverage, improving temporal resolution, enhancing image quality, overcoming physiological constraints, detecting and correcting for physiologic motion, and streamlining work flow. Examples of each of these strategies will be provided in this review. First, basic principles and key concepts of parallel MR are described. Second, practical considerations such as coil array design, coil sensitivity calibrations, customized pulse sequences and tailored imaging parameters are outlined. Next, cardiovascular applications of parallel MR are reviewed, ranging from cardiac anatomical and functional assessment to myocardial perfusion and viability to MR angiography of the coronary arteries and the large vessels. Finally, current trends and future directions in parallel CVMR are considered. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

[1]  R. Edelman,et al.  Diaphragmatic and cardiac motion during suspended breathing: preliminary experience and implications for breath-hold MR imaging. , 1998, Radiology.

[2]  P. Boesiger,et al.  Advances in sensitivity encoding with arbitrary k‐space trajectories , 2001, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[3]  C A McKenzie,et al.  Coil‐by‐coil image reconstruction with SMASH , 2001, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[4]  M. McConnell,et al.  Prospective adaptive navigator correction for breath‐hold MR coronary angiography , 1997, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[5]  Valentin Fuster,et al.  Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging: a “one-stop-shop” evaluation of myocardial dysfunction , 2002, Current opinion in cardiology.

[6]  Peter Boesiger,et al.  Accelerating cardiac cine 3D imaging using k‐t BLAST , 2004, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[7]  J. Gieseke,et al.  Blood flow quantification in adults by phase-contrast MRI combined with SENSE--a validation study. , 2005, Journal of cardiovascular magnetic resonance : official journal of the Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance.

[8]  Warren J Manning,et al.  Clinical indications for cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR): Consensus Panel report. , 2004, Journal of cardiovascular magnetic resonance : official journal of the Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance.

[9]  Thoralf Niendorf,et al.  Short breath‐hold, volumetric coronary MR angiography employing steady‐state free precession in conjunction with parallel imaging , 2005, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[10]  J. Gieseke,et al.  Rapid Left-to-Right Shunt Quantification in Children by Phase-Contrast Magnetic Resonance Imaging Combined With Sensitivity Encoding , 2003, Circulation.

[11]  S. Schoenberg,et al.  Single breath-hold real-time cine MR imaging: improved temporal resolution using generalized autocalibrating partially parallel acquisition (GRAPPA) algorithm , 2003, European Radiology.

[12]  Thoralf Niendorf,et al.  Rapid volumetric MRI using parallel imaging with order-of-magnitude accelerations and a 32-element RF coil array: feasibility and implications. , 2005, Academic radiology.

[13]  P. Wielopolski,et al.  Coronary arteries: magnetization-prepared contrast-enhanced three-dimensional volume-targeted breath-hold MR angiography. , 2001, Radiology.

[14]  Bruno Madore.  Using UNFOLD to remove artifacts in parallel imaging and in partial‐Fourier imaging , 2002, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[15]  Peter M. Jakob,et al.  AUTO-SMASH: A self-calibrating technique for SMASH imaging , 1998, Magnetic Resonance Materials in Physics, Biology and Medicine.

[16]  Lawrence L Wald,et al.  Comparison of Cardiac MRI on 1.5 and 3.0 Tesla Clinical Whole Body Systems , 2003, Investigative radiology.

[17]  G Laub,et al.  3D magnetization‐prepared true‐FISP: A new technique for imaging coronary arteries , 2001, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[18]  E. McVeigh,et al.  Regional myocardial function. , 1998, Cardiology clinics.

[19]  Jennifer Keegan,et al.  Coronary artery anomalies: assessment with free-breathing three-dimensional coronary MR angiography. , 2003, Radiology.

[20]  K P Pruessmann,et al.  Sensitivity encoded cardiac MRI. , 2001, Journal of cardiovascular magnetic resonance : official journal of the Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance.

[21]  O. Simonetti,et al.  Relationship of MRI delayed contrast enhancement to irreversible injury, infarct age, and contractile function. , 1999, Circulation.

[22]  Peter Boesiger,et al.  Accelerated dynamic Fourier velocity encoding by exploiting velocity-spatio-temporal correlations , 2004, Magnetic Resonance Materials in Physics, Biology and Medicine.

[23]  Peter Kellman,et al.  Real‐time accelerated interactive MRI with adaptive TSENSE and UNFOLD , 2003, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[24]  Alastair J. Martin,et al.  Whole‐heart steady‐state free precession coronary artery magnetic resonance angiography , 2003, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[25]  M. Gutberlet,et al.  Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Imaging at 3.0 Tesla , 2004 .

[26]  P. Boesiger,et al.  Electrodynamics and ultimate SNR in parallel MR imaging , 2004, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[27]  M. Reiser,et al.  Erfassung der globalen Herzfunktion mit Real-time-trueFISP in einer Atemphase , 2004, Der Radiologe.

[28]  Jaeseok Park,et al.  Feasibility and performance of breath‐hold 3D true‐FISP coronary MRA using self‐calibrating parallel acquisition , 2004, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[29]  D. Sodickson.  Tailored SMASH image reconstructions for robust in vivo parallel MR imaging , 2000, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[30]  Herbert Köstler,et al.  Auto‐SENSE perfusion imaging of the whole human heart , 2003, Journal of magnetic resonance imaging : JMRI.

[31]  N J Pelc,et al.  Unaliasing by Fourier‐encoding the overlaps using the temporal dimension (UNFOLD), applied to cardiac imaging and fMRI , 1999, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[32]  D. Sodickson,et al.  Ultimate intrinsic signal‐to‐noise ratio for parallel MRI: Electromagnetic field considerations , 2003, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[33]  Torsten Sommer,et al.  Hochauflösende 3D-MR-Koronarangiographie in Echt-Zeit-Navigatortechnik: Ergebnisse aus 107 Patientenuntersuchunaen , 2002 .

[34]  D. Kacher,et al.  Sensitivity profiles from an array of coils for encoding and reconstruction in parallel (SPACE RIP) , 2000, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[35]  M. Doyle,et al.  Clinical Use of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance , 2003, Circulation.

[36]  W. Eubank,et al.  Utilizing SENSE to achieve lower station sub‐millimeter isotropic resolution and minimal venous enhancement in peripheral MR angiography , 2002, Journal of magnetic resonance imaging : JMRI.

[37]  Roland Bammer,et al.  Parallel imaging strategies for reduction of resonance offset induced artifacts and k-space filtering effects. , 2000 .

[38]  P. Bottomley,et al.  An analytical SMASH procedure (ASP) for sensitivity‐encoded MRI , 2000, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[39]  J Keegan,et al.  MR navigator‐echo monitoring of temporal changes in diaphragm position: Implications for MR coronary angiography , 1997, Journal of magnetic resonance imaging : JMRI.

[40]  M. Beer,et al.  Prebolus quantitative MR heart perfusion imaging , 2004, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[41]  Debiao Li,et al.  Artifact reduction in true‐FISP imaging of the coronary arteries by adjusting imaging frequency , 2003, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[42]  D A Bluemke,et al.  Myocardial First-Pass Perfusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging: A Multicenter Dose-Ranging Study , 2004, Circulation.

[43]  Robert R Edelman,et al.  Contrast-enhanced MR imaging of the heart: overview of the literature. , 2004, Radiology.

[44]  Peter Boesiger,et al.  Sensitivity encoding as a means of enhancing the SNR efficiency in steady‐state MRI , 2005, Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.

[45]  Peter Boesiger,et al.  On the influence of training data quality in k‐t BLAST reconstruction , 2004, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[46]  E R McVeigh,et al.  Cardiac MR imaging: report of a working group sponsored by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. , 1998, Radiology.

[47]  Hiroto Hatabu,et al.  Time‐resolved contrast‐enhanced pulmonary MR angiography using sensitivity encoding (SENSE) , 2003, Journal of magnetic resonance imaging : JMRI.

[48]  S. Riederer,et al.  Navigator-echo-based real-time respiratory gating and triggering for reduction of respiration effects in three-dimensional coronary MR angiography. , 1996, Radiology.

[49]  P. Boesiger,et al.  Contrast‐enhanced 3D MRA using SENSE , 2000, Journal of magnetic resonance imaging : JMRI.

[50]  P J de Feyter,et al.  Breath-hold coronary MR angiography with volume-targeted imaging. , 1998, Radiology.

[51]  F. Epstein,et al.  Improved coverage in dynamic contrast‐enhanced cardiac MRI using interleaved gradient‐echo EPI , 1998, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[52]  P M Jakob,et al.  VD‐AUTO‐SMASH imaging , 2001, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[53]  Robin M Heidemann,et al.  Generalized autocalibrating partially parallel acquisitions (GRAPPA) , 2002, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[54]  Dudley J Pennell,et al.  Cardiovascular magnetic resonance and the role of adenosine pharmacologic stress. , 2004, The American journal of cardiology.

[55]  René M. Botnar,et al.  Coronary MR angiography clinical applications and potential for imaging coronary artery disease. , 2003, Magnetic resonance imaging clinics of North America.

[56]  R. Wilson,et al.  Myocardial perfusion reserve: assessment with multisection, quantitative, first-pass MR imaging. , 1997, Radiology.

[57]  Guang-Zhong Yang,et al.  Respiratory reordered UNFOLD perfusion imaging , 2004, Journal of magnetic resonance imaging : JMRI.

[58]  C A McKenzie,et al.  Improved spatial harmonic selection for SMASH image reconstructions , 2001, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[59]  O. Simonetti,et al.  "Black blood" T2-weighted inversion-recovery MR imaging of the heart. , 1996, Radiology.

[60]  Mark A. Griswold,et al.  A multicoil array designed for cardiac SMASH imaging , 2000 .

[61]  Todd S. Sachs,et al.  Real‐time motion detection in spiral MRI using navigators , 1994, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[62]  Thoralf Niendorf,et al.  Highly parallel volumetric imaging with a 32‐element RF coil array , 2004, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[63]  René M. Botnar,et al.  Preliminary report on in vivo coronary MRA at 3 Tesla in humans , 2002, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[64]  Manojkumar Saranathan,et al.  Large field‐of‐view real‐time MRI with a 32‐channel system , 2004, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[65]  T Sommer,et al.  [Submillimeter 3D coronary MR angiography with real-time navigator correction in 107 patients with suspected coronary artery disease]. , 2002, RoFo : Fortschritte auf dem Gebiete der Rontgenstrahlen und der Nuklearmedizin.

[66]  Guang-Zhong Yang,et al.  Accurate assessment of the arterial input function during high‐dose myocardial perfusion cardiovascular magnetic resonance , 2004, Journal of magnetic resonance imaging : JMRI.

[67]  Jianmin Wang,et al.  Field‐of‐view limitations in parallel imaging , 2004, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[68]  Andrew C Larson,et al.  Motion‐corrected free‐breathing delayed enhancement imaging of myocardial infarction , 2005, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[69]  R. Edelman,et al.  Contrast-enhanced 3D MR angiography with simultaneous acquisition of spatial harmonics: A pilot study. , 2000, Radiology.

[70]  J. Lima,et al.  Cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging: current and emerging applications. , 2004, Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

[71]  H. Kooijman,et al.  Hochauflösende Kontrastmittel-gestützte 3D-MR-Angiographie (MRA) der Nierenarterien mit paralleler Bildgebung (SENSE) , 2003 .

[72]  Y. Ohno,et al.  MR angiography with sensitivity encoding (SENSE) for suspected pulmonary embolism: comparison with MDCT and ventilation-perfusion scintigraphy. , 2004, AJR. American journal of roentgenology.

[73]  R. Edelman,et al.  Coronary arteries: breath-hold MR angiography. , 1991, Radiology.

[74]  E R McVeigh,et al.  Extended coverage first‐pass perfusion imaging using slice‐interleaved TSENSE , 2004, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[75]  F. S. Pereles,et al.  Thoracic aortic dissection and aneurysm: evaluation with nonenhanced true FISP MR angiography in less than 4 minutes. , 2002, Radiology.

[76]  Peter Boesiger,et al.  Cardiac real‐time imaging using SENSE , 2000 .

[77]  D. Sodickson,et al.  A generalized approach to parallel magnetic resonance imaging. , 2001, Medical physics.

[78]  G. V. von Schulthess,et al.  Assessment of Myocardial Perfusion in Coronary Artery Disease by Magnetic Resonance: A Comparison With Positron Emission Tomography and Coronary Angiography , 2001, Circulation.

[79]  Peter Boesiger,et al.  k‐t BLAST and k‐t SENSE: Dynamic MRI with high frame rate exploiting spatiotemporal correlations , 2003, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[80]  R. Edelman,et al.  First-pass nuclear magnetic resonance imaging studies using gadolinium-DTPA in patients with coronary artery disease. , 1991, Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

[81]  Peter Boesiger,et al.  2D sense for faster 3D MRI , 2002, Magnetic Resonance Materials in Physics, Biology and Medicine.

[82]  K. Scheffler,et al.  Single‐breathhold 3D‐trueFISP cine cardiac imaging , 2002, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[83]  Debiao Li,et al.  Coronary MR angiography: true FISP imaging improved by prolonging breath holds with preoxygenation in healthy volunteers. , 2003, Radiology.

[84]  S. Wolff,et al.  First-pass myocardial perfusion MR imaging with interleaved notched saturation: feasibility study. , 2001, Radiology.

[85]  Peter M. Jakob,et al.  Direct parallel imaging reconstruction of radially sampled data using GRAPPA with relative shifts , 2003 .

[86]  René M. Botnar,et al.  Double-oblique free-breathing high resolution three-dimensional coronary magnetic resonance angiography. , 1999, Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

[87]  E. Atalar,et al.  Regional heterogeneity of human myocardial infarcts demonstrated by contrast-enhanced MRI. Potential mechanisms. , 1995, Circulation.

[88]  T. Grist,et al.  Technical developments in MR angiography. , 2002, Radiologic clinics of North America.

[89]  F H Epstein,et al.  Adaptive sensitivity encoding incorporating temporal filtering (TSENSE) † , 2001, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[90]  Daniel K Sodickson,et al.  Self‐calibrating parallel imaging with automatic coil sensitivity extraction , 2002, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[91]  Udo Sechtem,et al.  MR imaging of myocardial perfusion and viability. , 2003, Magnetic resonance imaging clinics of North America.

[92]  Mark A. Griswold,et al.  AUTO-SMASH: A self-calibrating technique for SMASH imaging , 1998 .

[93]  John N. Oshinski,et al.  Magnetic resonance coronary angiography using navigator echo gated real-time slice following , 2004, The International Journal of Cardiac Imaging.

[94]  Thoralf Niendorf,et al.  Highly Accelerated Single Breath-Hold Coronary MRA with Whole Heart Coverage Using a Cardiac Optimized 32- Element Coil Array , 2005 .

[95]  R. Edelman,et al.  First-pass cardiac perfusion: evaluation with ultrafast MR imaging. , 1990, Radiology.

[96]  H H Quick,et al.  High spatial resolution whole-body MR angiography featuring parallel imaging: initial experience. , 2004, RoFo : Fortschritte auf dem Gebiete der Rontgenstrahlen und der Nuklearmedizin.

[97]  D. Larkman,et al.  Use of multicoil arrays for separation of signal from multiple slices simultaneously excited , 2001, Journal of magnetic resonance imaging : JMRI.

[98]  R. Edelman,et al.  Resolution enhancement in single‐shot imaging using simultaneous acquisition of spatial harmonics (SMASH) , 1999, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[99]  R. Edelman,et al.  Accelerated cardiac imaging using the SMASH technique. , 1999, Journal of cardiovascular magnetic resonance : official journal of the Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance.

[100]  A. Priatna,et al.  Double/Triple IR Dual Contrast FSE of the Heart with ASSET , 2003 .

[101]  René M. Botnar,et al.  Navigator-Gated Free-Breathing Three-Dimensional Balanced Fast Field Echo (TrueFISP) Coronary Magnetic Resonance Angiography , 2002, Investigative radiology.

[102]  M. Nittka,et al.  Partially parallel imaging with localized sensitivities (PILS) , 2000, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[103]  René M. Botnar,et al.  Coronary magnetic resonance imaging: current status. , 2002, Current problems in cardiology.

[104]  Daniel K Sodickson,et al.  3Parallel magnetic resonance imaging with adaptive radius in k‐space (PARS): Constrained image reconstruction using k‐space locality in radiofrequency coil encoded data , 2005, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[105]  Daniel K. Sodickson,et al.  Recent advances in image reconstruction, coil sensitivity calibration, and coil array design for SMASH and generalized parallel MRI , 2001, Magnetic Resonance Materials in Physics, Biology and Medicine.

[106]  René M. Botnar,et al.  Submillimeter three-dimensional coronary MR angiography with real-time navigator correction: comparison of navigator locations. , 1999, Radiology.

[107]  Bruno Madore,et al.  UNFOLD‐SENSE: A parallel MRI method with self‐calibration and artifact suppression , 2004, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[108]  P. Boesiger,et al.  Specific coil design for SENSE: A six‐element cardiac array , 2001, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[109]  D C Harrison,et al.  Dynamic gadolinium‐enhanced three‐dimensional abdominal MR arteriography , 1993, Journal of magnetic resonance imaging : JMRI.

[110]  Manojkumar Saranathan,et al.  Feasibility of integrating high-spatial-resolution 3D breath-hold coronary MR angiography with myocardial perfusion and viability examinations. , 2005, Radiology.

[111]  René M. Botnar,et al.  Coronary magnetic resonance angiography for the detection of coronary stenoses. , 2001, The New England journal of medicine.