Premium
Comparison of gadolinium‐enhanced and ferumoxytol‐enhanced conventional and UTE‐MRA for the depiction of the pulmonary vasculature
Author(s) -
Knobloch Gesine,
Colgan Timothy,
Schiebler Mark L.,
Johnson Kevin M.,
Li Geng,
Schubert Tilman,
Reeder Scott B.,
Nagle Scott K.
Publication year - 2019
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.27853
Subject(s) - flip angle , echo time , gradient echo , nuclear medicine , medicine , ferumoxytol , image quality , magnetic resonance angiography , gadolinium , magnetic resonance imaging , radiology , materials science , computer science , image (mathematics) , artificial intelligence , metallurgy
Purpose To evaluate the feasibility of ferumoxytol (FE)‐enhanced UTE‐MRA for depiction of the pulmonary vascular and nonvascular structures. Methods Twenty healthy volunteers underwent contrast‐enhanced pulmonary MRA at 3 T during 2 visits, separated by at least 4 weeks. Visit 1: The MRA started with a conventional multiphase 3D T 1 ‐weighted breath‐held spoiled gradient‐echo MRA before and after the injection of 0.1 mmol/kg gadobenate dimeglumine (GD). Subsequently, free‐breathing GD‐UTE‐MRA was acquired as a series of 3 flip angles (FAs) (6°, 12°, 18°) to optimize T 1 weighting. Visit 2: After the injection of 4 mg/kg FE, MRA was performed during the steady state, starting with a conventional 3D T 1 ‐weighted breath‐held spoiled gradient‐echo MRA and followed by free‐breathing FE‐UTE‐MRA, both at 4 different FAs (6°, 12°, 18°, 24°). The optimal FA for best T 1 contrast was evaluated. Image quality at the optimal FA was compared between methods on a 4‐point ordinal scale, using multiphase GD conventional pulmonary MRA (cMRA) as standard of reference. Results Flip angle in the range of 18°‐24° resulted in best T 1 contrast for FE cMRA and both UTE‐MRA techniques ( p > .05). At optimized FA, image quality of the vasculature was good/excellent with both FE‐UTE‐MRA and GD cMRA (98% versus 97%; p = .51). Both UTE techniques provided superior depiction of nonvascular structures compared with either GD‐enhanced or FE‐enhanced cMRA ( p < .001). However, GD‐UTE‐MRA showed the lowest image quality of the angiogram due to low image contrast. Conclusion Free‐breathing UTE‐MRA using FE is feasible for simultaneous assessment of the pulmonary vasculature and nonvascular structures. Patient studies should investigate the clinical utility of free‐breathing UTE‐MRA for assessment of pulmonary emboli.