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Image analysis in time‐resolved large field of view 3D MR‐angiography at 3T
Author(s) -
Frydrychowicz Alex,
Bley Thorsten A.,
Zadeh Zahra Abdullah,
Harloff Andreas,
Winterer Jan T.,
Hennig Jürgen,
Langer Mathias,
Markl Michael
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
journal of magnetic resonance imaging
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.563
H-Index - 160
eISSN - 1522-2586
pISSN - 1053-1807
DOI - 10.1002/jmri.21554
Subject(s) - medicine , image quality , contrast (vision) , coronal plane , radiology , magnetic resonance angiography , nuclear medicine , orientation (vector space) , angiography , ethics committee , magnetic resonance imaging , image (mathematics) , computer science , artificial intelligence , mathematics , political science , geometry , public administration
Purpose To qualitatively and quantitatively evaluate the image quality in accelerated time‐resolved 3D contrast‐enhanced MR angiography (tr‐CE‐MRA) at 3T. Materials and Methods In all, 113 MRA were performed in 107 patients on a 3T MR system after written informed consent and approval by the ethics committee. Twenty consecutive thoracic ( n = 87) or craniocervical ( n = 26) 3D data volumes were acquired. The timeframes with maximum arterial and venous contrast were determined and a total of 663 arterial and venous segments were analyzed by two blinded observers. Diagnostic image quality was graded by applying a 0 (low) to 3 (excellent) scale. Additionally, local signal‐to‐noise (SNR) and contrast‐to‐noise ratios (relative CNR) were evaluated. Results Tr‐CE‐MRA was successfully performed in all patients. Good to excellent image quality (2.42 ± 0.31) was observed in all individuals with preserved discrimination of arteries (2.43 ± 0.48) and veins (2.20 ± 0.56). Minor image degradation due to artifacts (2.62 ± 0.25) and constantly high vascular signal and contrast were detected. There was a significant superiority of coronal orientation during thoracic MRA ( P < 0.05). In 18 cases tr‐CE‐MRA provided additional information on vascular pathologies. Conclusion Large field of view tr‐CE‐MRA enables constantly high‐quality thoracic and craniocervical angiographies. In addition, the dynamics of tr‐CE‐MRA can offer additional information on vascular pathologies. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2008;28:1116–1124. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.