B. Patrux et al., MAGNETIC-RESONANCE ANGIOGRAPHY (MRA) OF THE CIRCLE OF WILLIS - A PROSPECTIVE COMPARISON WITH CONVENTIONAL ANGIOGRAPHY IN 54 SUBJECTS, Neuroradiology, 36(3), 1994, pp. 193-197
Citations number
18
Categorie Soggetti
Radiology,Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging",Neurosciences
We prospectively correlated the findings of magnetic resonance angiogr
aphy (MRA) with those of transfemoral four-vessel angiography in 54 pa
tients to investigate the direction of now within the circle of Willis
. Our primary goal was to assess the direction of flow using the size
of the vessel and signal intensity, without saturation techniques. Ana
lysis of the circle of Willis, especially the communicating arteries,
was performed double-blind by two groups of two radiologists. Three ty
pes of arteries were identified: high now or cross-cerebral circulatio
n, patent and nonvisualised arteries. Cerebral angiography was the sta
ndard for comparison between the two methods. MRA did not reveal any a
rteries invisible on angiography, thus providing a specificity of 100%
. The sensitivity of MRA was 89.2% for the anterior and 81.3% for the
posterior communicating arteries, and 100% for the anterior, middle an
d posterior cerebral arteries. MRA was shown to be a useful technique
for the assessment of patency of the circle of Willis.