Blood Pool Contrast-enhanced Magnetic Resonance Angiography with Correlation to Digital Subtraction Angiography: A Pictorial Review

Martha-Grace Knuttinen, Jillian Karow, Winnie Mar, Margaret Golden, Karen L XieJournal of Clinical Imaging Science 2014 4(1):63-63Magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) provides noninvasive visualization of the vascular supply of soft tissue masses and vascular pathology, without harmful radiation. This is important for planning an endovascular intervention, and helps to evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of the treatment. MRA with conventional extracellular contrast agents relies on accurate contrast bolus timing, limiting the imaging window to first-pass arterial phase. The recently introduced blood pool contrast agent (BPCA), gadofosveset trisodium, reversibly binds to human serum albumin, resulting in increased T1 relaxivity and prolonged intravascular retention time, permitting both first-pass and steady-state phase high-resolution imaging. In our practice, high-quality MRA serves as a detailed "roadmap" for the needed endovascular intervention. Cases of aortoiliac occlusive disease, inferior vena cava thrombus, pelvic congestion syndrome, and lower extremity arteriovenous malformation are discussed in this article. MRA was acquired at 1.5 T with an 8-channel phased array coil after intravenous administration of gadofosveset (0.03 mmol/kg body weight), at the first-pass phase. In the steady-state, serial T1-weighted 3D spoiled gradient echo images were obtained with high resolution. All patients underwent digital subtraction angiography (DSA) and endovascu...
Source: Journal of Clinical Imaging Science - Category: Radiology Authors: Source Type: research