Preferential arterial imaging using gated thick-slice gadolinium-enhanced phase-contrast acquisition in peripheral MRA.

Purpose: To investigate the feasibility of preferential arterial imaging using gadolinium-enhanced thick-slice phase-contrast imaging. Methods: Six healthy volunteers were studied using a peripheral-gated segmented k-space CINE phase-contrast pulse sequence using four views per RR interval with flow encoding in the superior-inferior direction. Images at the level of the popiteal trifurcation were acquired postcontrast with different section thicknesses (4–8 cm) and VENC values (20–150 cm/sec), and phase-difference processing. Results: The post-gadolinium contrast-enhanced thick-slice phase-contrast acquisitions demonstrated the ability to visualize the tibio-peroneal (trifurcation) arteries, especially in systole. With MR contrast agents, the signal from blood is raised significantly above that of stationary tissue from T1 shortening such that the partial volume artifact is reduced in thick-slice acquisitions. Furthermore, by selecting the VENC value as a function of the cardiac cycle, the noise floor can be raised to selectively suppress flow values less than that of the noise threshold, allowing better accentuation of arterial structures at systole. Conclusions: Thick-slice phase-contrast acquisition with phase-difference processing has been observed to reduce partial volume artifacts when an MR contrast agent substantially increases signal in the vasculature over that of normal background tissue. Preferential arterial images can be obtained by either increasing the VENC value to selectively suppress signal from slow flow in the veins or by subtracting the diastolic phase image from the peak systolic phase image. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2001;13:714–721. © 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc.