Software-Triggered Contrast-Enhanced Three-Dimensional MR Angiography of the Intracranial Arteries

Abstract

Software-triggered contrast-enhanced 3D MR angiography with centric K-space ordering is a promising technique for viewing intracranial arteries.

Contrast-enhanced MR angiography (enhanced 3-D fast gradient echo) for diagnosis of cerebral aneurysms

“…Smartprep methods developed by GE, in which the scan is started at the time of contrast media peak intensity, were also reported for use in the region of the neck vessels or whole-body vessels [7,8], while application of contrastenhanced MRA to intracranial lesions has also been described [9,10,11]. However, these reports dealt with contrast-enhanced 3D-TOF MRA, and the scan time used was more than 1 min.…”

“…Isoda et al reported on identi®cation of intracranial arteries by contrast-enhanced MRA in conjunction with the Smartprep technique and centric order, and pointed out that in about 80% of the subjects satisfactory identi®cation of the arteries was achieved [6]. However, the slice thickness they used was 2±4 mm and they sacri®ced spatial resolution for enhancement of temporary resolution.…”

“…The advantages of this method are a short scan time, an increased signalto-noise ratio, and a minimal eect of the direction or velocity of blood¯ow. This technique has been applied to whole-body MR imaging [1,2,3,4], but to our knowledge there have been few reports on its application to intracranial arterial disorders [5,6]. In this study we evaluated contrast-enhanced MRA (EFGRE3D with spectral IR) for the identi®cation of unruptured cerebral aneurysms.…”

Magnetic resonance angiography of the carotid arteries: comparison of unenhanced and contrast enhanced techniques

“…Since the introduction of MRA in the late 1980s, various techniques have been described for evaluation of the carotid arteries including phase contrast (PC) and time of flight (TOF) angiography [22][23][24][25][26]. Image acquisition with such techniques may last several minutes.…”

Time‐resolved contrast‐enhanced carotid imaging using undersampled projection reconstruction acquisition

“…NONINVASIVE MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING (MRI) of the carotid arteries is routinely performed with three-dimensional (3D) contrast-enhanced MR angiography (CE-MRA) (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10). The key to achieving successful CE-MRA images is to acquire the central lines of kspace during peak arterial enhancement; however, this is challenging because of the rapid arterial-venous transit time and short duration of the arterial phase (six to 10 seconds) (6 -8).…”