Purpose: To compare a high-resolution, ECG-gated, motion-compensated, steady-state magnetic resonance angiography (SS-MRA) of the thoracic vasculature to standard first-pass MRA (FP-MRA) using a blood-pool contrast agent (gadofosveset trisodium).
Materials and methods: In all, 25 patients >or=18 years with congenital or acquired disease of the thoracic vasculature, who underwent both FP-MRA and SS-MRA, were retrospectively identified. Diameters of left superior pulmonary vein (LSPV), left pulmonary artery (LPA), and aortic arch (AA) were measured. Image quality for LSPV, LPA, AA, coronary ostia, and coronary sinus were assessed. Vessel sharpness of LPA and LSPV and contrast ratio (CR) of LSPV, LPA, and AA were calculated.
Results: SS-MRA yielded significantly higher image quality for all vessels, and significantly higher vessel sharpness for LSPV and LPA compared to the FP-MRA. SS-MRA revealed lower intra- and interobserver variability for vessel diameters compared with the FP-MRA. The FP-MRA showed higher CR compared to the SS-MRA.
Conclusion: Motion-compensated high-resolution SS-MRA of the thoracic vasculature using gadofosveset trisodium offers superior image quality compared to standard FP-MRA. Although SS-MRA delivers no dynamic information it may prove specifically helpful as an add-on to FP-MRA for imaging of small vascular structures.
(c) 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.