Initial feasibility of a multi-station high resolution three-dimensional dark blood angiography protocol for the assessment of peripheral arterial disease
✍ Scribed by Georgeta Mihai; Yiu-Cho Chung; Mbabazi Kariisa; Subha V. Raman; Orlando P. Simonetti; Sanjay Rajagopalan
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 2009
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 445 KB
- Volume
- 30
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 1053-1807
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Abstract
Purpose
To evaluate the feasibility of a multi‐station three dimensional (3D) T1‐weighted turbo spin echo (TSE) dark‐blood Sampling Perfection with Application optimized Contrasts using different flip angle Evolution sequence (T1w‐SPACE), to assess aorta, iliac, and superficial femoral (SFA) arteries (inflow vessels) by comparing it with a multi‐station contrast enhanced MR angiography (CE‐MRA) with identical resolution.
Materials and Methods
A total of 6 volunteers and 14 peripheral arterial disease (PAD) patients were included in the study. Abdominal and thigh T1w‐SPACE and lower leg time‐resolved MRA (TR‐MRA) with low dose contrast were followed by 3‐station CE‐MRA. Quantitative measurements of lumen area at 17 locations from T1w‐SPACE and CE‐MRA were obtained. Additionally, vessel wall areas at the same locations were obtained from the T1w‐SPACE images.
Results
Quantitative comparison of lumen areas with T1w‐SPACE and CE‐MRA revealed strong correlation between the two techniques and strong inter‐observer agreement for each of the two imaging methods (r > 0.9; P < 0.001). Localized vessel wall area measurements obtained in PAD patients were significantly greater compared with those obtained in normal volunteers (mean difference 43.75 ± 12.46 mm^2^; P < 0.001). Stenosis severity obtained from T1w‐SPACE localized measurements showed significant arterial area stenosis in PAD patients.
Conclusion
T1w‐SPACE imaging of inflow vessels is feasible, and in addition to CE‐MRA has the ability to assess atherosclerotic plaque and vascular remodeling. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2009;30:785–793. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.