Clinical application of magnetic resonance coronary angiography

We performed the magnetic resonance coronary angiography (MRCA) in the cases which underwent coronary angiography (CAG) and obtained images were compared. Lesion with significant constriction more than 75% on CAG were determined as abnormal findings on MRCA, however, lesions with about 50% constriction were as the normal findings. On the assessment of the re-constriction after PTCA, the changes in signal were found in about half of cases. This may come from the contribution of flexion lesions, the difficulty to assess moderate constriction after PTCA, etc. For the anomalous aortic origin of coronary artery, peripheral large vessels could be simultaneously imaged by MRCA and be also assessed among their clear spatial relationship. Although MRCA has some problems on the assessment for flexion or moderate constriction, these results suggested that MRCA is useful to clinical application as the non-invasive examination. (K.H.)