MR flow quantification using RACE: clinical application to the carotid arteries.
Real time MR flow quantification was performed with real time acquisition and evaluation of motion (RACE) in a rigid phantom under steady flow conditions and in the common carotid arteries of 43 subjects aged 24-78 years. Hemodynamic information included the intraluminal velocity distribution during the complete cardiac cycle, the distensibility of the arterial wall, and age-dependent changes of the flow curves. Systolic peak velocities of 51 +/- 33 cm/s and time-averaged volume flow rates of 4.3 +/- 2.0 ml/s were measured in healthy subjects. Flow rates below 3.0 ml/s and the observation of abnormal flow patterns indicated stenoses greater than 70% in the region of the bifurcation (sensitivity: 83.3%; specificity: 93.7%; accuracy: 71.4%). Improvements may be achieved from a combination with MR angiography, providing both functional and morphologic vascular information noninvasively within one observer-independent examination. MR imaging, therefore, has a strong potential for the diagnosis of critical stenoses in symptomatic patients.
Möller
H E
HE
Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Institut für Physikalische Chemie, Germany.
Klocke
H K
HK
Bongartz
G M
GM
Peters
P E
PE
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity / Q000502:physiology; D001921:Brain / Q000098:blood supply*; D002339:Carotid Arteries / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D016893:Carotid Stenosis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D005583:Fourier Analysis; D006439:Hemodynamics / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D019028:Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Cine / Q000295:instrumentation*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D012016:Reference Values