High temporal and spatial resolution imaging of peripheral vascular malformations

Purpose: To assess the performance of a recently developed 3D time-resolved CE-MRA technique, Cartesian Acquisition with Projection-Reconstruction-like sampling (CAPR), for accurate characterization and treatment planning of vascular malformations of the periphery. Materials and Methods: Twelve patient studies were performed (eight female, four male; average age, 33 years). The protocol consisted of three-dimensional (3D) time-resolved CE-MRA followed by a single late phase T1-weighted acquisition. Vascular malformations were imaged in the forearm, hand, thigh, and foot. Imaging evaluation was performed for accurate characterization of lesion type, identification of feeding and draining vessels, involvement with surrounding tissue, overall quality for diagnosis and treatment planning, and correlation with conventional angiography. Results: Time-resolved CE-MRA allowed for characterization of malformation flow and type. Feeding and draining vessels were identified in all cases. Overall quality for diagnosis and treatment planning was 3.58/4.0, and correlation with conventional angiography was scored as 3.89/4.0. Conclusion: The CAPR time series has been shown to portray the temporal dynamics and structure of vascular malformations as well as the normal vasculature with high quality. CAPR time-resolved imaging is able to accurately characterize high and low flow lesions, allowing for pretreatment lesion assessment and treatment planning. Delayed imaging is important to capture complete filling of very slow flow vascular malformations.