SmartPrep

SmartPrepIA uses a tracking pulse to increase the accuracy of synchronizing image acquisition with the arrival of a contrast bolus to acquire images.

It is not always possible to time the start of image acquisition with the arrival of the bolus because of patient variations such as heart rate, cardiac output, age, blood pressure, and severity of vascular pathology. If the data acquisition starts before the arrival of the bolus in the arterial system, the effectiveness of the contrast injection is diminished or missed. If the data acquisition starts too late, the contrast bolus may have passed, and there may be filling of the venous structures, complicating the image analysis. SmartPrep IA can reduce those occurrences when the bolus is not captured due to patient physiologic variations and inaccurate operator predictions.

With SmartPrep, a tracking pulse is used to continuously monitor the MR signal coming from a prescribed volume of interest in the patient. As the signal increases from the user-prescribed volume due to an injected contrast material, the SmartPrep application evaluates the signal amplitude to see if it exceeds a contrast dose-dependent threshold. When the measured signal exceeds a system-defined and fixed threshold, the pre-selected protocol is automatically initiated. To maximize the image contrast, k-space can be filled in a centric, elliptic centric, reverse centric, or reverse elliptical centric order.

Table 1. SmartPrep image legend

Number	Description
1	Baseline phase
2	Monitor time phase
3	Scan time phase
4	Threshold
5	Trigger delay
6	Scan time
7	Trigger point