High-resolution magnetic resonance angiography of hands with timed arterial compression (tac-MRA).
Timed arterial compression (tac) of blood flow can be achieved by inflation of a blood-pressure cuff. We postulated that this technique might improve contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) of the arteries of the hands. We studied eight volunteers and six patients with occlusive arterial disease of the hands with standard MRA and tac-MRA. Compared with standard MRA, acquisition time was extended with the blood-pressure cuff by a factor of four, leading to quadrupled image resolution (512x1024). Furthermore, flow-related artifacts were not seen. Tac-MRA permits visualisation of the peripheral arterial system in finer detail than that achieved with standard MRA.
Wentz
Klaus U
KU
MR Research Group, Institute of Radiology, Cantonal Hospital, Winterthur, Switzerland. ku.wentz@ksw.ch
Fröhlich
Johannes M
JM
von Weymarn
Constantin
C
Patak
Michael A
MA
Jenelten
Regula
R
Zollikofer
Christoph L
CL
D000328:Adult; D001157:Arterial Occlusive Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D006225:Hand / Q000098:blood supply*; D006801:Humans; D018810:Magnetic Resonance Angiography / Q000379:methods*; D013557:Switzerland