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Vessel Wall MRI Added to MR Angiography in the Evaluation of Suspected Vasculopathies
Author(s) -
Song Jae W.,
Obusez Emmanuel C.,
Raymond Scott B.,
Rafla Samuel D.,
Schaefer Pamela W.,
Romero Javier M.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of neuroimaging
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 64
eISSN - 1552-6569
pISSN - 1051-2284
DOI - 10.1111/jon.12607
Subject(s) - medicine , mcnemar's test , magnetic resonance angiography , mras , magnetic resonance imaging , radiology , nuclear medicine , statistics , physics , mathematics , vector control , quantum mechanics , voltage , induction motor
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE We hypothesized that vessel wall MR imaging (VWI) with 3D‐time‐of‐flight magnetic resonance imaging (3D‐TOF‐MRA) together increases the ability to detect abnormal intracranial vessel segments compared to 3D‐TOF‐MRA alone. METHODS Ninety‐three consecutive subjects with a clinical history of suspected vasculopathy imaged with both VWI and 3D‐TOF‐MRAs were retrospectively reviewed. The 3D‐TOF‐MRAs were reviewed by two independent neuroradiologists classifying arterial segments as normal or abnormal based on caliber changes. Following a 2‐week wash‐out period, the 3D‐TOF‐MRAs with VWI together were re‐evaluated for caliber changes and/or vessel wall enhancement. A third neuroradiologist served as consensus. Significance was assessed by McNemar's test. RESULTS Forty‐two subjects with VWI and 3D‐TOF‐MRAs met the inclusion criteria. By 3D‐TOF‐MRA alone, 12.3% (95% confidence interval [CI], 10.7‐15.1) of the arterial segments were identified as abnormal compared to 20.8% (95% CI, 18.2‐23.4) by VWI and 3D‐TOF‐MRA together ( P < .0001). CONCLUSIONS 3D‐TOF‐MRA and VWI together identifies a higher number of abnormal vessel segments than 3D‐TOF‐MRA alone and may provide a more accurate assessment of disease burden.