Magnetic resonance velocity mapping in aortic dissection

We describe three patients with chronic aortic dissection in whom both spin-echo magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and cine field-echo imaging were performed. The field even-echo rephasing (FEER) sequence showed the intimal flaps much more clearly than the spin-echo sequence and provided a distinction between thrombus and static blood. Velocity mapping allowed flow measurements in the true and false lumens. The management of the three patients was based upon the information provided by MRI. It is suggested that MRI may avoid invasive investigation and be the method of choice in haemodynamically stable patients with aortic dissection provided that the FEER sequence is used.