Coronary Atherosclerosis T1-Weighted Characterization (CATCH)

Summary

This study proposes to develop an MRI technique named Coronary Atherosclerosis T1-weighed Characterization (CATCH) that will improve the quality and reliability of coronary atherosclerosis evaluation, as well as simplify the scanning process and significantly shorten imaging time compared with conventional imaging methods.

Detailed Description

Approximately 110 healthy male/female adult "normals" or "controls" and 40 male/female adult outpatients who are suspected of having or have been diagnosed with coronary artery disease will be recruited. All subjects will be asked to undergo either a non-contrast MRI or a contrast-enhanced MRI of the coronary artery depending upon the focus of development at the time of their participation It is anticipated that healthy volunteers will undergo non-contrast or contrast-enhanced MRI for evaluating the image quality associated with each acquisition module of the developed technique and motion artifact associated with motion compensation strategy. For subjects receiving contrast, a total dose of up to 0.2 mmol/kg of a gadolinium based contrast agent will be injected intravenously provided all the safety requirements are met. Subjects undergoing a contrast-enhanced MRI will be screened using the standard clinical protocol to determine whether it is safe to administer contrast. If subjects do not qualify for contrast administration, they may be asked to have a research scan without contrast. Research MRI results will be compared with clinical diagnostic CT and/or invasive imaging studies for patients who have been evaluated with these exams at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center..

Eligibility Criteria

Interventions