Abdominal aortic aneurysms: assessment with gadolinium-enhanced time-of-flight coronal MR angiography (MRA)

A prospective study was performed to evaluate the efficacy of a gadolinium-chelate-enhanced MR angiography (MRA) using a coronal acquisition in the preoperative assessment of aneurysms of the abdominal aorta (AAA). Twenty patients with AAA were explored with MR using a two-dimensional (2D) time-of-flight MRA technique with a coronal acquisition, before and after intravenous administration of 0.1 mmol/kg of a gadolinium-chelate. Gadolinium-chelate-enhanced MRA with a coronal acquisition decreased deleterious saturation effects within aorta and iliac arteries in 16 of 20 patients (80%) and improved the overall quality of the images of the upper and lower parts of the AAA (i.e. extent of the aneurysm). Furthermore, gadolinium-chelate-enhanced MRA with a coronal acquisition allowed a better differentiation between slow flow and mural thrombus. Gadolinium-chelate-enhanced MRA had a sensitivity of 100% and a specificity of 96% for evaluation of renal artery involvement, and a sensitivity of 93% and a specificity of 100% for iliac artery involvement. The results of this study show that gadolinium-chelate-enhanced MRA obtained with a coronal acquisition is efficacious for the preoperative assessment of AAA.