ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on traditional catheter-based coronary angiography and two revolutionizing noninvasive technologies that also define the coronary anatomy: computed tomography angiography (CTA) and magnetic resonance coronary angiography (MRCA). Coronary angiography clearly delineates the course and size of the coronary arteries, identifies anomalies, and provides information on the location, characteristics and degree of obstructions. It provides information on coronary origin, vessel size, artery pathway, branches, lesion presence, collateral circulation, and myocardial bridging. The individual variability of the coronary anatomy requires that the acquisition techniques allow the ability to perform various combinations of angulation and rotation that result in a gantry position that acquires a clinically useful image. MRCA is a technique that allows for a noninvasive visualization of the coronary arteries. MRCA has gained considerable importance as a noninvasive method to diagnose coronary artery stenosis and is an area of active research.
