Dynamic contrast-enhanced MR angiography of pulmonary embolism: comparison with pulmonary angiography.

Evaluation of contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) using Gd-DOTA compared with time-of-flight MRA in the diagnosis of clinically significant non-coronary arterial disease

“…A number of trials have used contrast-enhanced MRA using Gd-DOTA at 1.5-T field strength to study a variety of vascular beds including pulmonary, renal, carotid and lower limb arteries [4][5][6]. It has been suggested that vascular enhancement is heightened at higher magnetic field strengths, and there is increasing evidence that the use of MRA at 3 T may have advantages in many different body regions compared with 1.5 T [7].…”

MR imaging of the pulmonary vasculature—an update

“…After initial pilot publications on technique developments [17][18][19], the first clinically important study compared contrast-enhanced pulmonary MR angiography with invasive pulmonary angiography in 30 consecutive patients with suspected pulmonary embolism [20]. The study was performed with three observers, who were blind to angiographic findings.…”

“…Of those that have been tried over the years, 3D gadolinium-enhanced magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) is now most commonly applied, and the introduction of parallel imaging has increased its utility [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24]. More recently the use of novel, non-Cartesian, kspace filling techniques (such as radial and spiral image data acquisition) have also been proposed for use in the chest [25].…”

Diagnostic strategies for suspected pulmonary embolism

“…As a result MR-based V9/Q9 scans can be performed. The results of this technique have shown sensitivity figures y70% and specificity of 95-100% [66,69,70]. Although the new techniques of MRI seem very promising and accurate, the studies published on this subject report varying sensitivity and specificity with different techniques and expertise of the radiologist.…”