Portosystemic collaterals on MR imaging

Fourteen patients with various portosystemic collaterals (seven esophageal varices, three paraumbilical veins, two splenorenal shunts, and two mesenteric varices) were imaged with magnetic resonance (MR) imaging using a superconducting imager. Collateral pathways were demonstrated as tortuous structures of no or low signal intensity on spin-echo image, and flow related enhancement did not cause any difficulty in evaluation. Direct sagittal images are especially useful for paraumbilical vein and coronal images for esophageal and mesenteric varix. The clinical role of MR in the assessment of portosystemic collaterals is discussed also in comparison with CT and ultrasound.