Clinical applications of 3D MR angiography using 0.5T MRI

Abstract

The clinical value of 0.5T three-dimensional (3D) magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) was assessed in 25 patients with intracranial vascular disease; 15 had aneurysms, 8 had arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) and 2 had arterial occlusions. As the result of utilizing 0.5T MRA with optimal parameters, good visualization of main cerebral arteries including the carotid siphon, circle of Willis, second-order branches and intracranial vascular lesions could be obtained. In the diagnosis of cerebral aneurysms, 3D MRA was superior to spin echo (SE) sequence. AVMs and arterial occlusions were equally well appreciated on 3D MRA as on the SE images.