Peripheral vasculature: High-temporal- and high-spatial-resolution three-dimensional contrast-enhanced MR angiography

Purpose: To prospectively evaluate the feasibility of performing high-spatial-resolution (1-mm isotropic) time-resolved three-dimensional (3D) contrast material-enhanced magnetic resonance (MR) angiography of the peripheral vasculature with Cartesian acquisition with projection-reconstruction-like sampling (CAPR) and eightfold accelerated two-dimensional (2D) sensitivity encoding (SENSE). Materials and Methods: All studies were approved by the institutional review board and were HIPAA compliant; written informed consent was obtained from all participants. There were 13 volunteers (mean age, 41.9; range, 27-53 years). The CAPR sequence was adapted to provide 1-mm isotropic spatial resolution and a 5-second frame time. Use of different receiver coil element sizes for those placed on the anterior-to-posterior versus left-to-right sides of the field of view reduced signal-to-noise ratio loss due to acceleration. Results from eight volunteers were rated independently by two radiologists according to prominence of artifact, arterial to venous separation, vessel sharpness, continuity of arterial signal intensity in major arteries (anterior and posterior tibial, peroneal), demarcation of origin of major arteries, and overall diagnostic image quality. MR angiographic results in two patients with peripheral vascular disease were compared with their results at computed tomographic angiography. Results: The sequence exhibited no image artifact adversely affecting diagnostic image quality. Temporal resolution was evaluated to be sufficient in all cases, even with known rapid arterial to venous transit. The vessels were graded to have excellent sharpness, continuity, and demarcation of the origins of the major arteries. Distal muscular branches and the communicating and perforating arteries were routinely seen. Excellent diagnostic quality rating was given for 15 (94%) of 16 evaluations. Conclusion: The feasibility of performing high-diagnostic-quality time-resolved 3D contrast-enhanced MR angiography of the peripheral vasculature by using CAPR and eightfold accelerated 2D SENSE has been demonstrated.