Evaluation of cardiac venous anatomy with contrast-enhanced whole-heart coronary MR angiography at 3.0 T

Objective: To evaluate the value of contrast-enhanced whole-heart coronary magnetic resonance angiography (CE CMRA) at 3.0 T in the delineation of cardiac venous anatomy. Methods: Contrast-enhanced whole-heart CMRA at 3.0 T was performed in 43 consecutive subjects using ECG- triggered, navigator-gated, inversion-recovery prepared, segmented gradient-echo sequence with a 32- channel cardiac coil. The visibility of the coronary veins was graded visually using a 4-point scale. Continuous variable was expressed as x-bar±s. The paned student, t test was used to evaluate the differences of' the coronary sinus (CS) ostium diameter in anteroposterior and superoinferior directions. Results: CMRA examination was successfully completed in 40 subjects with acquisition time of (6.9±1.8) min. The cardiac veins were finally evaluated in 38 of 40 (95.0%) subjects. The mean distance of the posterior vein of the left ventricle (PVLV) and the left marginal vein (LMV) to the CS ostium were (3.34±0.90) and (6.12±1.02) cm, respectively. The mean visibility scores of CS, posterior interventricular vein (PIV), PVLV, LMV, and anterior interventricular vein (AIV) were 4.0±0.0, 3.4±0.5, 3.4±0.5, 3.0±0.8, and 3.3±0.5, respectively. The diameter of the CS ostium in the superoinferior direction (1.13± 0.26) cm was larger than that in the anteroposterior direction (0.82±0.19) cm (t =-4.31, P<0.05). Conclusion: Contrast-enhanced whole-heart CMRA at 3.0 T can clearly depict the cardiac venous anatomy. (authors)