Intraindividual comparison of high-spatial-resolution abdominal MR angiography at 1.5 T and 3.0 T: initial experience.

Purpose: To prospectively compare three-dimensional (3D) contrast material–enhanced abdominal magnetic resonance (MR) angiography at 1.5 and 3.0 T intraindividually in healthy volunteers. Materials and Methods: After institutional review board approval and informed consent were obtained, 15 healthy male volunteers (age range, 24–41 years) underwent one abdominal 3D contrast-enhanced MR angiographic examination each at 1.5 and 3.0 T in random order. Fast 3D gradient-echo sequence with parallel imaging acceleration factor of three was used for MR angiography; acquired spatial resolutions were 1 × 0.8 × 1 mm3 (imaging time, 19 seconds) at 1.5 T and 0.9 × 0.8 × 0.9 mm3 (imaging time, 18 seconds) at 3.0 T. With the latter, volume of the 3D slab was 8% larger. At 1.5 T, 20-mL bolus of gadobenate dimeglumine was delivered at 2 mL/sec; at 3.0 T, 15-mL bolus was delivered at 2.5 mL/sec. Two blinded radiologists rated image quality of aorta and proximal renal arteries in consensus with five-point scale (4 = very go...