Arterial and venous blood flow: noninvasive quantitation with MR imaging

Quantitative measurements of arterial and venous blood flow were obtained with phase-contrast cine magnetic resonance (MR) imaging and compared with such measurements obtained by means of implanted ultrasound (US) blood flow probes in anesthetized dogs. The US flowmeter was enabled during a portion of each MR imaging sequence to allow virtually simultaneous data acquisition with the two techniques. MR imaging data were gated by means of electrocardiography and divided into 16 phases per cardiac cycle. The rates of portal venous blood flow measured with MR imaging and averaged across the cardiac cycle (710 mL/min +/- 230 [standard deviation]) correlated well with those measured with the flowmeter and averaged in like fashion (751 mL/min +/- 238) (r = .995, slope = 1.053). The correspondence in arterial blood flow was almost as good. No statistically significant difference existed between the paired measurements of blood flow obtained with MR imaging and the implanted probe. It is concluded that, as a noninvasive means of accurate quantification of blood flow, phase-contrast MR imaging may be especially useful in deep blood vessels in humans.