Novel Ultrafast Spiral Head MR Angiography Compared to Standard MR and CT Angiography

Abstract

Intracranial vessel imaging by time-of-flight MR angiography (TOF-MRA) is one of the most frequently performed investigations in clinical neuroradiology. Particularly in the acute setting, fast imaging is needed for diagnostics, with a sequence ideally depicting even small vessels. The purpose of this study was to compare image and diagnostic quality of a novel ultrashort TOF-MRA sequence accelerated by spiral imaging (TOF-Spiral-short) to a standard TOF-MRA sequence accelerated by compressed sensing (TOF-CS) and to CT angiography (CTA). METHODS: Forty-one patients (36.6% showing vessel pathologies) who had undergone TOF-CS (acquisition duration: 4 minutes 8 seconds), TOF-Spiral-short (acquisition duration: 51 seconds; spiral imaging [accelerating factor 1.3], decreased field of view [accelerating factor 1.2], and increased voxel size [accelerating factor 3.3]), and CTA were retrospectively evaluated. Assessment of image quality, diagnostic confidence, and quantification of stenosis or aneurysm diameter were performed by two readers. RESULTS: Image quality at the skull base was slightly reduced with TOF-Spiral-short compared to CTA and TOF-CS (P < .05). Delineation of small intracranial vessels was improved by TOF-Spiral-short compared to CTA (P < .0001). In TOF-Spiral-short, diagnostic confidence was not reduced compared to TOF-CS in patients with vessel pathologies. We observed no significant difference in quantitative pathology assessment between TOF-Spiral-short and the other two modalities. TOF-Spiral-short enabled the correct identification of all vessel pathologies. CONCLUSIONS: Accelerating TOF-MRA of brain-feeding arteries by a novel ultrashort spiral imaging sequence shows adequate image quality and sufficient diagnostic performance. Thus, TOF-Spiral-short holds potential for fast and reliable diagnostics of vessel pathologies, particularly in the acute setting.

What’s Hot in Breast MRI

“…80,88 Indeed, there isn't full agreement about what exactly is meant by ''Ultrafast'' for other subspecialties. 112,113 On the other hand, the International Breast Diffusion-Weighted Imaging Working group have established basic requirements about DWI-MRI protocols used in association to DCE-MRI in the The boldface values in the table shows the center of the k-space.…”

“…There is even less standardization for the “ultrafast breast MRI.” 80,88 Indeed, there isn’t full agreement about what exactly is meant by “Ultrafast” for other subspecialties. 112,113 On the other hand, the International Breast Diffusion-Weighted Imaging Working group have established basic requirements about DWI-MRI protocols used in association to DCE-MRI in the Multiparametric Breast MRI 22,95 in order to have the diffusion breast MRI incorporated to the BIRADS in the near future.…”

Contrast-Enhanced T1-Weighted Head and Neck MRI: Prospective Intraindividual Image Quality Comparison of Spiral GRE, Cartesian GRE, and Cartesian TSE Sequences

“…These traits render spiral sequences more robust in terms of several artifacts [6,7,12,13,16,17]. The advantages of spiral MRI were demonstrated in clinical pilot studies for brain and spine imaging [8][9][10][11][12][13].…”

“…Spiral sequences offer high k-space sampling efficiency and central k-space oversampling, thus enabling artifact-robust imaging at even shorter scan times than for conventional T1W sequences [6,7]. Spiral sequences have previously shown promise for anatomic and functional imaging of various regions [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]. However, to our knowledge, the utility of spiral sequences has not been systematically explored for clinical head and neck MRI.…”

Usefulness of silent magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) for the diagnosis of atherosclerosis of the internal carotid artery siphon in comparison with time-of-flight MRA

“…Magnetic resonance imaging (MRA) using 3D-TOF MRA technique, in clinical practice, has been modality most widely used to evaluate cerebral vessels [ 8 , 17 ]. It has the advantages of contrast-free, invasiveness, and no radiation exposure, but it still has some shortcomings.…”