Holden H. Wu1,2, Bob S. Hu2,3,
Dwight G. Nishimura2, Michael V. McConnell1,2
1Cardiovascular Medicine,
Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States; 2Electrical
Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States; 3Palo
Alto Medical Foundation, Palo Alto, CA, United States
Non-invasive coronary angiography is one of the most important goals in cardiovascular imaging and MRI is a promising modality for addressing this critical need. In this work, we present a 3D whole-heart free-breathing coronary MRI technique based on the 3D cones readout trajectory, which enables a high degree of scan time reduction compared to 3D Cartesian encoding and exhibits greater robustness to motion/flow. In addition, 2D navigator images are acquired directly over the heart to compensate for respiratory motion and multiple cardiac phases are resolved to support retrospective selection of the best phase for visualization.