Non-contrast-enhanced abdominal MRA at 3 T using velocity-selective pulse trains

Magn Reson Med. 2020 Sep;84(3):1173-1183. doi: 10.1002/mrm.28187. Epub 2020 Feb 4.

Abstract

Purpose: Most existing non-contrast-enhanced methods for abdominal MR arteriography rely on a spatially selective inversion (SSI) pulse with a delay to null both static tissue and venous blood, and are limited to small spatial coverage due to the sensitivity to slow arterial inflow. Velocity-selective inversion (VSI) based approach has been shown to preserve the arterial blood inside the imaging volume at 1.5 T. Recently, velocity-selective saturation (VSS) pulse trains were applied to suppress the static tissue and have been combined with SSI pulses for cerebral MR arteriography at 3 T. The aim of this study is to construct an abdominal MRA protocol with large spatial coverage at 3 T using advanced velocity-selective pulse trains.

Methods: Multiple velocity-selective MRA protocols with different sequence modules and 3D acquisition methods were evaluated. Sequences using VSS only as well as SSI+VSS and VSI+VSS preparations were then compared among a group of healthy young and middle-aged volunteers. Using MRA without any preparations as reference, relative signal ratios and relative contrast ratios of different vascular segments were quantitatively analyzed.

Results: Both SSI+VSS and VSI+VSS arteriograms achieved high artery-to-tissue and artery-to-vein relative contrast ratios above aortic bifurcation. The SSI+VSS sequence yielded lower signal at the bilateral iliac arteries than VSI+VSS, reflecting the benefit of the VSI preparation for imaging the distal branches.

Conclusion: The feasibility of noncontrast 3D MR abdominal arteriography was demonstrated on healthy volunteers using a combination of VSS pulse trains and SSI or VSI pulse.

Keywords: abdominal MRA; arteriography; non-contrast-enhanced MRA; velocity-selective pulse train.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Abdomen / diagnostic imaging
  • Aorta, Abdominal / diagnostic imaging
  • Arteries*
  • Cerebral Angiography
  • Contrast Media
  • Humans
  • Magnetic Resonance Angiography*
  • Middle Aged

Substances

  • Contrast Media