Parallel imaging technique for the external carotid artery and its branches: comparison of balanced turbo field echo, phase contrast, and time-of-flight sequences.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the parallel imaging technique in the external carotid artery and its branches using 3D balanced turbo field echo (3D bTFE), 3D phase-contrast (3D PC), and 3D time-of-flight (3D TOF) MR angiography (MRA) sequences.


METHODS
A total of 26 healthy volunteer subjects underwent 3D bTFE, 3D PC, and 3D TOF MRA with the parallel imaging sensitivity encoding (SENSE) technique. The obtained images were read in a blinded fashion by three radiologists. Interreader and intersequence statistical analyses were performed to compare the visibility of the arteries.


RESULTS
Friedman's ranking test demonstrated that there was no significant difference in visibility between any two pairs of sequences for the external carotid artery and its first branches. However, of the three techniques, 3D PC MRA performed the best for the second-order branches (P < 0.01) and for overall visibility of the external carotid artery and its branches (P < 0.01). The 3D bTFE sequence is superior to 3D TOF; however, an effective means of separating arteries from veins and salivary ducts is needed.


CONCLUSIONS
The combination of parallel imaging and the 3D PC technique is a promising approach for face and neck MRA.
Sumi
Tadateru
T
Department of Radiology and Cancer Biology, Nagasaki University School of Dentistry, 1-7-1 Sakamoto, Nagasaki 852-8588, Japan.
Sumi
Misa
M
Van Cauteren
Marc
M
Kimura
Yasuo
Y
Nakamura
Takashi
T
D000328:Adult; D002342:Carotid Artery, External / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D018810:Magnetic Resonance Angiography / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric