Real-time magnetic resonance with physiologic monitoring for improved scan localization

Imaging of the coronary arteries at diagnostic resolutions is made difficult due to cardiac and respiratory motion during data acquisition. Cardiac gating and respiratory gating or breath holding are effective ways to reduce the effects of motion. The optimal cardiac and respiratory timings vary widely across individuals. This work presents a real-time magnetic resonance imaging approach with physiologic monitoring that can be used to predict the optimal timings on a subject-by-subject basis during a brief real-time prescan. The feasibility of this approach at determining the optimal cardiac trigger delay and respiratory phase is demonstrated. Magn Reson Med 53:954–959, 2005. © 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc.