Whole-body magnetic resonance angiography of patients using a standard clinical scanner

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the technique of whole-body magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) of patients with a standard clinical scanner. Thirty-three patients referred for stenoses, occlusions, aneurysms, assessment of patency of vascular grafts, vasculitis and vascular aplasia were examined in a 1.5-T scanner using its standard body coil. Three-dimensional sequences were acquired in four stations after administration of one intravenous injection of 40 ml conventional gadolinium contrast agent. Different vessel segments were evaluated as either diagnostic or nondiagnostic and regarding the presence of stenoses with more than 50% diameter reduction, occlusions or aneurysms. Of 923 vessel segments, 67 were not evaluable because of poor contrast filling (n=31), motion artefacts (n=20), venous overlap (n=12) and other reasons (n=4). Stenoses of more than 50%, occlusions or aneurysms were observed in 26 patients (129 segments). In nine patients additional unsuspected pathology was found. In 10 out of 14 patients (71/79 segments) there was conformity between MRA and digital subtraction angiography regarding the grade of stenosis. This study shows that whole-body MRA with a standard clinical scanner is feasible. Motion artefacts and the timing of the contrast agent through the different segments are still problems to be solved.