3T High-Spatial-Resolution Contrast-Enhanced MR Angiography of the Intracranial Venous System with Parallel Imaging

M Lettau,S Heiland,K Sartor,S Hähnel

doi:10.3174/ajnr.a1147

Abstract

The diagnostic image quality of contrast-enhanced (CE) 3D MR venography (MRV) was prospectively compared with that of 2D time-of-flight (TOF) MRV and contrast-enhanced 3D magnetization-prepared rapid acquisition of gradient echo (MPRAGE) sequences for the visualization of the intracranial venous system at 3T in 22 patients. CE MRV provides high-quality images and was shown to be superior to TOF MRV and MPRAGE sequences in visualizing the normal intracranial venous system.

Highlights

Contrast-enhanced (CE) MR venography (MRV) with 1.5T MR imaging has proved to be superior to time-of-flight (TOF)[1,2,3] as well as phase-contrast[1] MRV to visualize the intracranial venous system
CE MRV with parallel imaging has been performed for imaging of the intracranial venous system with 1.5T MR imaging[4] and 3T MR imaging.[5]
We found significantly higher image quality scores on the CE MRV compared with the TOF MRV or magnetization-prepared rapid acquisition of gradient echo (MPRAGE) sequences and on the MPRAGE sequences compared with the TOF MRV (Table 2 and 3)

Summary

Introduction

Contrast-enhanced (CE) MR venography (MRV) with 1.5T MR imaging has proved to be superior to time-of-flight (TOF)[1,2,3] as well as phase-contrast[1] MRV to visualize the intracranial venous system. Because small intracranial vein thrombosis is often associated with venous infarction or hemorrhage, MRV requires spatial resolution in submillimeter dimension. CE MRV with parallel imaging has been performed for imaging of the intracranial venous system with 1.5T MR imaging[4] and 3T MR imaging.[5] The magnetization-prepared rapid acquisition of gradient echo (MPRAGE) sequences have already been implemented to visualize the intracranial venous system with 1.5T MR imaging.[6,7] The goal of our study was to compare CE MRV, TOF MRV, and MPRAGE sequences using 3T MR imaging with parallel imaging for the visualization of the intracranial venous system

Objectives

Results

Discussion

Conclusion