3D BREATH-HOLD CONTRAST-ENHANCED MRA - A PRELIMINARY EXPERIENCE IN AORTA AND ILIAC VASCULAR-DISEASE

Purpose: Our goal was to describe a 3D breath-hold (3D BH) contrast-en hanced MRA technique and apply the technique to patients with known or suspected aortic and iliac artery disease. Method: A fat-suppressed 3 D GRE pulse sequence was designed with a total of 16 partition encodin gs. This took <24 s for data acquisition in the abdomen and pelvis and was easily achieved during a single breath-hold. The technique was ap plied to 26 patients who presented with either known or suspected abdo minal aortic or iliac vascular diseases. For comparison, in 19 patient s a 2D TOF MRA pulse sequence with a traveling saturation band was use d. Angiographic correlation was made in 18 studies. Results: The 3D BH MRA was easily applicable in the evaluation of vascular anatomy and p athology. In three cases, it was superior to 2D TOF and conventional a ngiography for visualizing clot within the wall of an aneurysm in the abdominal aorta. In 20 cases, both MRA techniques overestimated the de gree of stenosis in the lower peripheral vessels; however, this was mo re pronounced on 2D TOF. In five cases, the aneurysm wall was clearly defined by 3D BH MRA, whereas there was considerable signal loss in 2D TOF due to complex flow. With 3D BH MRA, the entire vessel territory both in abdominal aorta and in iliac vessels was visualized in all cas es without signal falloff in the FOV. Breath-holding provided static i mages of the vessels that were free of blurring due to respiratory mot ion. Conclusion: Preliminary experience suggests that 3D BH with its d istinct advantage of speed may serve as a useful screening tool for pa tients who cannot have conventional angiography or tolerate a lengthy MR examination of the abdominal aorta and iliac arteries.