Time-resolved MR angiography revolutionizes clinical imaging -- Acquisition technique offers high-resolution and extended anatomical coverage in brain and carotid, aortoiliac, and peripheral arteries

• Published in: Diagnostic imaging (San Francisco, Calif.) Vol. 29; no. 11; p. 87
• Main Author: Lawrence N. Tanenbaum M.D., FACR
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: San Francisco MultiMedia Healthcare Inc 01.11.2007
• ISSN: 0194-2514

The clinical availability of temporally enhanced time-resolved acquisition techniques such as TRICKS (time resolved imaging of contrast kinetics) revolutionizes the way that MRA is performed in the clinical setting, providing dynamic information along with high-resolution, extended anatomical coverage. Recent advances that employ parallel imaging to increase temporal resolution extend the clinical applicability of these techniques. A time-resolved approach improves the quality and consistency of contrast-enhanced MRA exams by reducing their reliance on operator performance and precise acquisition timing. - Carotid-vertebrobasilar. Single-phase high-resolution imaging is very well suited to MRA of the neck if performed with elliptical centric phase encoding, which allows extended scan times (up to about one minute) without incurring venous contamination, if appropriately timed. Many facilities will still choose to employ time resolved/multiphase techniques to make study performance more consistent and avoid the fuss and cost of a timing run or enhancement-triggered scanning. The eightfold acceleration of parallel imaging-enhanced time-resolved studies, delivering temporal resolution of about two seconds per 3D run, is of particular benefit in neurovascular studies because of the inherently short arteriovenous transit time of the brain. Dynamic time-resolved imaging can be useful in depicting altered flow dynamics, as in subclavian steal syndrome and flow-limiting stenosis. Time-resolved acquisition techniques such as TRICKS revolutionize the way that MRA is performed in the clinical setting, providing dynamic information along with high-resolution, extended anatomical coverage. Time-resolved techniques also improve the quality and consistency of contrast-enhanced MRA examinations by reducing their reliance on operator performance and precise acquisition timing. Time-resolved techniques are commonly employed in clinical practice today and should become increasingly popular with future enhancements in scanner hardware and software.