The value of cardiac MR dual-phase 3D whole heart imaging in evaluation of coronary artery in children / 中华放射学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To investigate the value of whole-heart and volume-targeted balanced steady-state free precession(bSSFP) in the evaluation of coronary artery in children.Methods:Children with congenital heart disease and Kawasaki disease who underwent cardiac magnetic resonance imaging were retrospectively collected from January 2014 to December 2015, 197 cases(male female 124∶73) were included according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria in this study. There were 189 cases of congenital heart disease and 8 Kawasaki disease, in which 23 cases had abnormal coronal arteries. Image quality of the coronary artery segments, the coronary artery origin and course, and coronary artery dimension in dual phase 3D bSSFP were analyzed. Chi-square test was used to evaluation the degree of accuracy and difference of coronal artery segments. T test was used to compare the diameter of left with right coronal artery in end systolic phase and mid to end diastolic phase.Results:Image quality was better in systolic phase than diastolic phase(3.9±0.5 and 3.5±0.7 respectively, P<0.001) for all cases. Combining the dual phases, the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of dual phase 3D whole heart imaging in evaluating the coronal artery origin, course and shape was 100%. However, there was a little difference in revealing left anterior descending coronary artery, left circumflex artery and right coronary artery. There was significant difference in the clearly revealing the left anterior descending coronary artery and left circumflex artery( P<0.001). The left and right coronary artery dimension was larger in systolic phase than in mid-diastolic phase(left coronary artery 3.1±1.3 mm and 2.8±1.3 mm, respectively, right coronary artery(2.5±0.9) and(2.3±0.7)mm, respectively, P<0.001). Conclusion:Cardiac MR 3D bSSFP can retrospectively select coronary resting periods for optimal images, providing a more reliable imaging modality for the assessment of coronary arteries in children to make better clinical decision.