Whole-body MRA on a rolling table platform (AngioSURF).

Purpose: Development of a technique for whole-body MR angiography based on a rolling table platform and integration of a surface coil. Material and Me thods: The developed rolling table platform AngioSURF (System for Unlimited Rolling Field-of-view) with integrated surface coil can be mounted on top of the original patient table of a Siemens Symphony System. Data acquisitio n was performed with a standard body array surface coil. The system was tes ted on three volunteers and one patient with angiographically documented va scular pathology. Data acquisition was performed with a 3D-FLASH-sequence ( TRITE 2,1/0,7 ms, flip angle: 20 degrees, FOV 40 x 40 cm, 80 partitions, ma trix 512 x 420 with zero interpolation). Five data sets were collected in i mmediate succession during continuous injection of a paramagnetic contrast agent. Time of acquisition per data set was 10 seconds. Table repositioning was performed manually within 3 seconds. Thus the total acquisition time a mounted to 72 seconds. Results: No problems with handling occurred in any o f the four cases. The excellent image quality enables detailed assessment o f the displayed Vascular territories. Conclusions: The rolling table platfo rm with Integrated surface coil (AngioSURF) allows diagnostic display of th e arterial vascular system from supraaortic vessels to the distal trifurcat ion arteries in only 72 seconds.