Purpose: To evaluate the ability of black-blood coronary arterial wall MRI to identify the coronary artery plaque, using intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) as the golden standard. Materials and Methods: Nineteen consecutive patients underwent IVUS and coronary artery wall MRI. Cross-sectional images were acquired on the lesion of coronary artery from the ostium to the middle segment continuously. The vessel cross-sectional area (CSA), luminal CSA, plaque burden, contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) were measured in each slice which was then compared with the IVUS images. Results: Sixteen of 19 patients completed coronary artery MRA and wall imaging. 41 of 67 slices were found plaques on both IVUS and MRI; The maximal wall thickness, plaque burden, SNR, CNR in the coronary wall containing plaque were greater compared with the normal coronary wall (1.70 +/- 0.51 versus 1.24 +/- 0.24; 0.71 +/- 0.13 versus 0.59 +/- 0.12; 1.86 +/- 0.41 versus 1.47 +/- 0.23; 5.10 +/- 2.21 versus 2.99 +/- 1.17; respectively, P < 0.05). The matched MRI and IVUS showed good correlation for vessel CSA (16.77 +/- 10.67 versus 16.97 +/- 8.36; r = 0.79; P < 0.01), luminal CSA (5.18 +/- 5.01 versus 7.13 +/- 5.14; r = 0.88; P < 0.01), plaque burden (0.71 +/- 0.13 versus 0.59 +/- 0.15; r = 0.67; P < 0.01). in segments containing plaques, especially the luminal CSA were strongly correlated. Conclusion: MRI coronary artery wall imaging can identify coronary plaque in the proximal segments. It also has the potential to assess coronary artery size.