With conventional Fourier transform (FT) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI),
it is difficult to perform contrast-enhanced three-dimensional (3D) MR angi
ography (MRA) with the temporal and spatial resolution necessary to depict
the carotid arteries. However, locally focused (LF) MRI is a more efficient
method that utilizes prior knowledge of the image content to reconstruct i
mages from sparse k-space samples. In this paper, we show how LF MRI can be
used to perform high-resolution gadolinium (Gd)enhanced 3D carotid MRA in
less than 10 seconds. First, the accuracy of the technique was demonstrated
by com paring LF and conventional [FT] images of a vascular phantom. Then
the method was used to perform Gd-enhanced 3D MRA of a patient's carotid ar
teries. Instead of using bolus timing, the arterial phase was retrospective
ly identified in a consecutive series of images, just as in X-ray angiograp
hy. (C) 1999 Wiley-Liss, Inc.