Whole-body magnetic resonance angiography of patients using a standard clinical scanner

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the technique of whole-body magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) of patients with a standard clinical scanner. Thirty-three patients referred for stenoses, occlusions, aneurysms, assessment of patency of vascular grafts, vasculitis and vascular aplasia were examined in a 1.5-T scanner using its standard body coil. Three-dimensional sequences were acquired in four stations after administration of one intravenous injection of 40 ml conventional gadolinium contrast agent. Different vessel segments were evaluated as either diagnostic or nondiagnostic and regarding the presence of stenoses with more than 50% diameter reduction, occlusions or aneurysms. Of 923 vessel segments, 67 were not evaluable because of poor contrast filling (n=31), motion artefacts (n=20), venous overlap (n=12) and other reasons (n=4). Stenoses of more than 50%, occlusions or aneurysms were observed in 26 patients (129 segments). In nine patients additional unsuspected pathology was found. In 10 out of 14 patients (71/79 segments) there was conformity between MRA and digital subtraction angiography regarding the grade of stenosis. This study shows that whole-body MRA with a standard clinical scanner is feasible. Motion artefacts and the timing of the contrast agent through the different segments are still problems to be solved.

Sensitivity and specificity of the ankle—brachial index to diagnose peripheral artery disease: a structured review

“…A structured review of original articles analyzing the sensitivity and specificity of ABI for the diagnosis of PAD was Although DSA is considered the best method for assessing PAD severity, location, and extent; 5 some studies have shown that WBMRA has good accuracy for grading stenosis with DSA as reference; [11][12][13] DWA was also a non-invasive method widely used to diagnose PAD; 14,15 moreover, there was excellent agreement between arteriography and CDU findings (the coefficient of correlation was 0.95). 16 Noninvasive and easy methods of detecting PAD were preferred in clinical practice, so an imaging diagnostic technology was often used in many of the studies as a standard reference in defining serious luminal stenosis for the diagnosis of PAD.…”

A total atherosclerotic score for whole-body MRA and its relation to traditional cardiovascular risk factors

“…It has previously been shown that among patients with peripheral vascular disease, WBMRA has a high sensitivity and specificity for estimating the extent of atherosclerosis, using DSA as the "gold standard" [5][6][7][8][9]. Advantages of WBMRA are the lack of ionizing radiation, the lower nephrotoxicity of gadolinium contrast agents compared with iodinated contrast agents, and a minimally invasive procedure without the risks involved in arterial cannulation.…”

The Prevalence and Quantification of Atherosclerosis in an Elderly Population Assessed by Whole-Body Magnetic Resonance Angiography

“…Instead various methods have been used for confirmation of vascular abnormalities found on WBMRA, such as ultrasound, dedicated MRA, or DSA with a reasonably high agreement. [3][4][5][6]8,9,21,22 The lack of validation using DSA is caused by the ethical problems with wholebody ionizing radiation. The value of WBMRA both in clinical practice and in patient-based studies is yet to be established.…”

“…of slices ϫ thickness 450 mm/60ϫ4 mm; 80% scan percentage. The measured voxel size was 1.76ϫ1.76ϫ4.0 mm, and this was reconstructed by zero-filling to 0.88ϫ0.88ϫ2.0 mm, which gives a 1.54 mm 3 volume of reconstructed voxel. Linear K-space sampling was used for the first station.…”

“…[3][4][5][6] WBMRA of other vascular territories, however, has not been compared with the standard imaging techniques. The prevalence of atherosclerosis based on a sample from a general population of elderly citizens has never to our knowledge been established previously with the use of WBMRA.…”