Premium
Retrobulbar magnetic resonance angiography using binomial off‐resonant rectangular (BORR) pulse
Author(s) -
Ye Yongquan,
Wu Zhen,
Lewis Nicholas A.,
Fan Qingxia,
Haacke E. Mark
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
magnetic resonance in medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.696
H-Index - 225
eISSN - 1522-2594
pISSN - 0740-3194
DOI - 10.1002/mrm.25498
Subject(s) - magnetic resonance angiography , contrast (vision) , pulse (music) , medicine , flip angle , nuclear medicine , magnetic resonance imaging , radiology , nuclear magnetic resonance , physics , optics , detector
Purpose Applying a newly developed binomial off‐resonant rectangular (BORR) pulse method for high resolution three‐dimensional MR angiography (MRA) on retrobulbar ocular vessels, which has not been possible with routine MRA due to background fatty tissues. Methods BORR pulse was implemented in a gradient echo sequence by replacing the original excitation pulse, and were optimized for robust orbital fat suppression. Several other MRA methods, with or without fat suppression, were also compared, including time‐of‐flight, contrast enhanced MRA, and hybrid of opposite‐contrast MRA. Nine healthy subjects participated with written informed consents. To reduce eye motion, the subjects were instructed to casually stare at a projected cross during each MRA scan. Major vessels were evaluated by three independent radiologists using a 4‐point scale. Results The BORR method yielded the best MRA results for retrobulbar vessels without contrast enhancement, significantly superior than other MRA methods. BORR results had significantly higher visibility scores than all other methods for small vessels. Conclusion We have successfully revealed orbital vessels in retrobulbar space for the first time using MRA, by using the BORR pulse method. With a clear depiction of the vasculature without the need for contrast enhancement, our method has the potential to provide important diagnostic information for ocular vascular diseases. Magn Reson Med 74:1050–1056, 2015. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.