Prog Med Phys.  2012 Sep;23(3):177-187.

Development and Feasibility Study for Phase Contrast MR Angiography at Low Tesla Open-MRI System

• Lee DH
• Hong CP
• Lee MW
• Han BS

Abstract

Magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) techniques are widely used in diagnosis of vascular disorders such as hemadostenosis and aneurism. Especially, phase contrast (PC) MRA technique, which is a typical non contrast-enhanced MRA technique, provides not only the anatomy of blood vessels but also flow velocity. In this study, we developed the 2- and 3-dimensional PC MRA pulse sequences for a low magnetic field MRI system. Vessel images were acquired using 2D and 3D PC MRA and the velocities of the blood flow were measured in the superior sagittal sinus, straight sinus and the confluence of the two. The 2D PC MRA provided the good quality of vascular images for large vessels but the poor quality for small ones. Although 3D PC MRA gave more improved visualization of small vessels than 2D PC MRA, the image quality was not enough to be used for diagnosis of the small vessels due to the low SNR and field homogeneity of the low field MRI system. The measured blood velocities were 25.46+/-0.73 cm/sec, 24.02+/-0.34 cm/sec and 26.15+/-1.50 cm/sec in the superior sagittal sinus, straight sinus and the confluence of the two, respectively, which showed good agreement with the previous experimental values. Thus, the developed PC MRA technique for low field MRI system is expected to provide the useful velocity information to diagnose the large brain vessels.

Keyword

Phase contrast magnetic resonance angiography; Low tesla MRI system; Vessels image; Flow measurement

MeSH Terms

Angiography
Blood Vessels
Brain
Feasibility Studies
Glycosaminoglycans
Magnetic Fields
Magnetic Resonance Angiography
Superior Sagittal Sinus
Glycosaminoglycans