title: Need for background suppression in contrast-enhanced peripheral magnetic resonance angiography.
abstract: To determine if background suppression is beneficial for peripheral magnetic resonance angiography (pMRA), nonsubtracted, subtracted, and fat-saturated contrast-enhanced (CE) pMRA were compared in 10 patients with peripheral arterial disease. Signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) and contrast-to-noise ratios (CNRs), as well as venous enhancement and subjective interpretability, were determined in a station-by-station fashion for each technique. In three patients X-ray angiography was available as a standard of reference. SNRs and CNRs were significantly higher for fat-saturated vs. the other two techniques (P = 0.005). Subjective interpretability was best for subtracted data sets in the lower-leg station. In the iliac station, fat-saturated data sets were considered to have significantly lower interpretability than subtracted data sets. Venous enhancement occurred significantly more often in the lower-leg station with the fat-saturated technique. The value of subtraction depends on the hardware one has available and is a useful tool if dedicated surface coils are used. Background suppression by means of magnitude subtraction leads to the best lower-leg image interpretability. Care must be taken to avoid venous enhancement in the lower-leg station when using fat saturation.
authors.affiliation: Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht, Department of Radiology, Maastricht University Hospital, Maastricht, The Netherlands. tlei@rdia.azm.nl
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Leiner
authors.forename: T T
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: de Weert
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Nijenhuis
authors.forename: G B
authors.initials: GB
authors.lastname: Vasbinder
authors.forename: A G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Kessels
authors.forename: K Y
authors.initials: KY
authors.lastname: Ho
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: van Engelshoven
mesh_terms: D001157:Arterial Occlusive Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis; D001808:Blood Vessels / Q000503:physiopathology; D003287:Contrast Media; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D007866:Leg / Q000098:blood supply; D018810:Magnetic Resonance Angiography / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015588:Observer Variation; D016491:Peripheral Vascular Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media