Effect of heart rate variability on image quality of 3D free-breathing whole-heart coronary MR angiography with 3.0T scanner / 中国医学影像技术

ABSTRACT

Objective To observe the effect of the average heart rate (HR) and the variability of HR on image quality of 3D free-breathing whole-heart coronary MR angiography (MRCA). Methods A total of 65 healthy volunteers underwent retrospectively electrocardiography-gated 3D free-breathing whole-heart coronary MRA with ECG-gated 3D segmented-k-space gradient echo sequence. Two observers evaluated image quality of each coronary segment. Visualization of the proximal coronary arteries (CA) with coronary MRA was qualitatively evaluated using a four point grading scale (1 excellent; 2 good; 3 moderate; 4 non-diagnostic). Pearson correlation analysis was performed to analyze the correlation between image quality of each coronary artery and the average HR and heart rate variability. Results Average HR was 64.5±13.3 beats per minute (bpm) (range 40-86 bpm) with a variability of (6.1%±2.6)%. No significant correlation presented between mean HR and image quality of all segments of the left circumflex and left anterior descending artery except the right coronary artery (P<0.05). heart rate variability significantly correlated with overall image quality (P<0.001) and image quality of each coronary artery. Conclusion heart rate variability influences the image quality of 3D free-breathing coronary MRA more obvious than HR does.