MRI of the coronary vessel wall at 3 T: comparison of radial and cartesian k-space sampling.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of our study was to compare the quality of 3D gradient-echo images obtained using radial versus cartesian k-space sampling at 3 T. CONCLUSION: This study shows that the quality of coronary vessel wall imaging of the right coronary artery with radial k-space sampling in 3D turbo field-echo sequences is superior to cartesian k-space sampling at 3 T. Radial k-space sampling at 3 T makes it possible to combine low motion artifact susceptibility with high signal-to-noise ratio.