A new acquisition scheme for three-dimensional (3D) phase-contrast MR angiography reduces by 33% the measurement time for a data set sensitive to flow in all three orthogonal directions. Background suppression is achieved by acquiring a flow-compensated data set and three data sets flow encoded in the three orthogonal directions, with subsequent complex subtraction. The data are acquired in an interleaved fashion, eliminating misregistration artifacts due to patient motion between measurements sensitive to different flow directions. A standard maximum-intensity-projection algorithm is applied to the combined 3D data set to obtain angiographic projections sensitive to all three orthogonal flow directions. The theory and implementation of the method are described and examples of its application to the intracranial and abdominal circulation are provided.
The application of three-dimensional (3D) time-of-flight (TOF) magnetic resonance (MR) angiographic techniques to the vasculature of the abdomen and thorax has not, to the authors' knowledge, been previously reported; this is possibly due to the large amount of physiologic motion in these regions along with the anticipated sensitivity of the 3D acquisition scheme to image degradation caused by motion artifact. The authors describe an asymmetric short-echo velocity-compensated 3D TOF technique that minimized the effects of physiologic motion on image quality and provided rapid high-resolution 3D MR arteriograms of the abdomen and thorax. Contiguous 3D volumes were often combined to provide sufficient anatomic coverage. Benefits include high spatial resolution and minimization of signal loss; limitations include sensitivity to motion artifact and progressive spin saturation.
This study was carried out to evaluate time-of-flight RA in renal artery stenosis (RAS) in selected hypertensive patients (n = 41). In i.a. DSA studies, 10 unilateral, 8 bilateral RAS, and 4 unilateral RA occlusions were proven. MRA was done in coronal and axial 2D technique (FLASH), and in 3D technique (FISP) using GE-pulse sequences. DSA results were correlated with both 2D-individual slices, 2D- and 3D-MIP angiograms. Highest sensitivity and specificity was found for the axial 2D individual slice analysis (88%, 85% resp.), followed by the 3D-MIP MRA (78%, 80% resp.), and axial 2D-MIP MRA (73%, 79% resp.). MRA of renal arteries used in this study shows to be not adequate to DSA results due to many drawbacks. All MRA techniques, in particular the 3D-technique, tend to overestimate RAS occasionally pretending occlusions.
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