Aortic diseases - Do we need MR techniques?

MR with its various imaging protocols including spin-echo MR-imaging. gradi ent MR-imaging, flow-mapping and MR angiography is the ideal tool for nonin vasive assessment of any kind of aortic diseases. The technique allows to i mage the aorta both in the thoracic cage and in the abdominal aspects bette r than any other tomographic image modality. With the capability of angiogr aphy after intravenous injection of gadolinium even the information previou sly only obtained from invasive catheter-based studies is now available wit hin minutes after an intravenous injection. The overview manuscript compare s various clinical settings of aortic diseases as assessed by Various imagi ng modalities and highlights the capability of MR-imaging for aortic diseas es both in the chronic and the acute clinical setting.