title: Time-resolved magnetic resonance angiography: evaluation of intrapulmonary circulation parameters in pulmonary arterial hypertension.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine whether pulmonary arterial and venous transit times measured by time-resolved magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) can be used as a diagnostic tool for pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH).
  
  
  METHODS
  Twelve patients with confirmed PAH and 10 healthy volunteers were scanned with Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval. Time-resolved MRA and 2D phase contrast flow images of the pulmonary vasculature were acquired. Pulmonary arterial and venous transit times (PaTT and PvTT) and pulmonary valve flow (PVF) were obtained. Pulmonary arterial and pulmonary venous blood volumes (PaBV and PvBV) were calculated as the product of flow and transit time.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patients with PAH showed statistically significant increases in PaTT and PvTT (P < 0.0004, P < 0.05, respectively) compared to controls. PaBV (165.2 ± 92.0 mL) was significantly higher in PAH subjects than controls (97.0 ± 47.1 mL) (P < 0.04), whereas PvBV (127.9 ± 148.9 mL) of PAH subjects had no significant increase from those of healthy controls (142.5 ± 104.1 mL) (P < 0.38).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Pulmonary arterial transit times measured using time-resolved MRA can be used as a simple, noninvasive metric for detection of altered hemodynamics in PAH.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA.
authors.forename: Hyun J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Jeong
authors.forename: Parmede
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vakil
authors.forename: John J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Sheehan
authors.forename: Sanjiv J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Shah
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cuttica
authors.forename: James C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Carr
authors.forename: Timothy J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Carroll
authors.forename: Amir
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Davarpanah
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001783:Blood Flow Velocity; D065627:Familial Primary Pulmonary Hypertension; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006976:Hypertension, Pulmonary / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods; D018810:Magnetic Resonance Angiography / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011651:Pulmonary Artery / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011667:Pulmonary Veins / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity