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Subtractive non-contrast-enhanced MRI of lower limb veins using multiple flow-dependent preparation strategies.

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

Change log

Authors

Li, Hao 
Priest, Andrew N 
Patterson, Ilse 
Graves, Martin J 
Lomas, David J 

Abstract

PURPOSE: To evaluate the performance of acceleration-dependent vascular anatomy for non-contrast-enhanced MR venography (ADVANCE-MRV) in femoral veins and to investigate whether venous signal uniformity can be improved by applying multiple acquisitions with different flow suppressions or multiple flow suppressions in 1 acquisition. METHODS: The ADVANCE-MRV method uses flow-sensitized modules to acquire a dark-artery image set and a dark-artery vein set, which are subsequently subtracted. Ten healthy volunteers were imaged using the ADVANCE-MRV sequence with improved venous suppression uniformity in the dark-artery vein images achieved by applying multiple flow suppressions in the same acquisition or by combining multiple images acquired with different flow suppressions. The performance of the improved technique was also evaluated in 13 patients with lower-limb deep venous thrombosis. RESULTS: Multiple-preparation and multiple-acquisition approaches all improved venous signal uniformity and reduced the signal void artifacts observed in the original ADVANCE-MRV images. The multiple-acquisition approaches achieved excellent blood signal uniformity and intensity, albeit at the cost of an increase in the total acquisition time. The double-preparation approach demonstrated good performance in all measurements, providing a good compromise between signal uniformity and acquisition time. The blood signal spatial variation and its variation using different gradient amplitudes were reduced by 20% and 29%. All patient images showed uniform and bright venous signal in nonoccluded sections of vein. CONCLUSION: The enhanced ADVANCE-MRV methods substantially improved signal uniformity in healthy volunteers and patients with known deep venous thrombosis. The double-preparation approach gave good-quality femoral vein images, providing improved venous signal uniformity without increasing acquisition time in comparison to the original sequence.

Description

Keywords

MR venography, non-contrast-enhanced, venous thrombosis, Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Algorithms, Arteries, Computer Simulation, Female, Femoral Vein, Healthy Volunteers, Humans, Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted, Imaging, Three-Dimensional, Lower Extremity, Magnetic Resonance Angiography, Male, Middle Aged, Motion, Phlebography, Popliteal Vein, Reproducibility of Results, Veins, Venous Thrombosis, Young Adult

Journal Title

Magn Reson Med

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0740-3194
1522-2594

Volume Title

81

Publisher

Wiley
Sponsorship
Addenbrooke's Charitable Trust (ACT) (9378)
Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (CUH) (RG52525)
Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre China Scholarship Council Cambridge Trust