Abstract
Objectives
To assess the image quality of sparsely sampled contrast-enhanced MR angiography (sparse CE-MRA) providing high spatial resolution and whole-head coverage.
Materials and methods
Twenty-three patients scheduled for contrast-enhanced MR imaging of the head, (N = 19 with intracranial pathologies, N = 9 with vascular diseases), were included. Sparse CE-MRA at 3 Tesla was conducted using a single dose of contrast agent. Two neuroradiologists independently evaluated the data regarding vascular visibility and diagnostic value of overall 24 parameters and vascular segments on a 5-point ordinary scale (5 = very good, 1 = insufficient vascular visibility). Contrast bolus timing and the resulting arterio-venous overlap was also evaluated. Where available (N = 9), sparse CE-MRA was compared to intracranial Time-of-Flight MRA.
Results
The overall rating across all patients for sparse CE-MRA was 3.50 ± 1.07. Direct influence of the contrast bolus timing on the resulting image quality was observed. Overall mean vascular visibility and image quality across different features was rated good to intermediate (3.56 ± 0.95). The average performance of intracranial Time-of-Flight was rated 3.84 ± 0.87 across all patients and 3.54 ± 0.62 across all features.
Conclusion
Sparse CE-MRA provides high-quality 3D MRA with high spatial resolution and whole-head coverage within short acquisition time. Accurate contrast bolus timing is mandatory.
Key points
• Sparse CE-MRA enables fast vascular imaging with full brain coverage.
• Volumes with sub-millimetre resolution can be acquired within 10 seconds.
• Reader’s ratings are good to intermediate and dependent on contrast bolus timing.
• The method provides an excellent overview and allows screening for vascular pathologies.
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Abbreviations
- MRA:
-
Magnetic Resonance Angiography
- AVM:
-
Arteriovenous malformation
- ToF:
-
Time of Flight
- PC:
-
Phase contrast
- RF:
-
Radiofrequency
- CE-MRA:
-
Contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance angiography
- SNR:
-
Signal to noise
- CNR:
-
Contrast to noise
- GRAPPA:
-
Generalized autocalibrating partially parallel acquisition
- SENSE:
-
Sensitivity encoding
- IQ:
-
Image quality
- FoV:
-
Field of view
- FISTA:
-
Fast iterative shrinkage/thresholding algorithm
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Acknowledgments
The scientific guarantor of this publication is Harald H. Quick. The authors of this manuscript declare relationships with the following companies: This work was supported by a research agreement between Siemens Healthcare GmbH, Erlangen, Germany, and the University Hospital Essen, Essen. The works-in-progress (WIP) prototype sparse MRA sequence was provided by Siemens Healthcare GmbH, Erlangen, Germany. The authors are grateful for the support and helpful discussions to Michaela Schmidt and Dr. Aurelien Stalder, both Siemens Healthcare, Erlangen. One of the authors has significant statistical expertise. Institutional Review Board approval was obtained. Written informed consent was obtained from all subjects (patients) in this study. Methodology: retrospective, observational / experimental, performed at one institution.
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Gratz, M., Schlamann, M., Goericke, S. et al. Evaluation of fast highly undersampled contrast-enhanced MR angiography (sparse CE-MRA) in intracranial applications – initial study. Eur Radiol 27, 1004–1011 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-016-4398-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-016-4398-z