Contrast-enhanced peripheral magnetic resonance angiography using time-resolved vastly undersampled isotropic...

To investigate the application of time-resolved vastly undersampled isotropic projection reconstruction (VIPR) in contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance angiography of the distal extremity (single station), and peripheral run-off vasculature in the abdomen, thigh, and calf (three stations).

Time-resolved distal extremity imaging was performed using VIPR sequence through the comparison of two acquisition matrix sizes: 256 with TR/TE=3.7/1.4 msec and 320 with TR/TE=4.5/1.8 msec under the same scan time of two minutes. VIPR acquisition was combined with a bolus-chase technique to image the peripheral run-off vasculature. The time-resolved images were reconstructed using a revised sliding window reconstruction filter whose temporal aperture remained narrow for low spatial frequencies and increased quadratically to include all the projection data for high spatial frequencies.

The new temporal filter significantly suppressed the undersampling streak artifacts and venous contamination, while maintaining a high temporal resolution. Both high spatial resolution (ranging from 1.56 x 1.56 x 1.56 mm to 1.25 x 1.25 x 1.25 mm) and high temporal resolution (three seconds per frame) distal extremity images and peripheral run-off images were generated using time-resolved VIPR acquisition, which provides isotropic spatial resolution and isotropic coverage.

Time-resolved VIPR acquisition was demonstrated to be well suited for distal extremity imaging by providing isotropic spatial resolution, isotropic coverage, and high temporal resolution. The combination of time-resolved VIPR and bolus chase technique provided a novel approach for peripheral run-off examinations.