title: Double Bolus Application in TWIST-MR-Angiography of the Cervical Arteries.
abstract: Purpose. The aim of the present work was to test the feasibility of the time-resolved MR-angiography (TWIST-MRA) of cervical arteries using double bolus injection. Material and Methods. TWIST-MRA with a temporal resolution of 8.4 seconds for each frame and a spatial resolution with a voxel size of 0.61 × 0.58 × 0.8 mm(3) was performed in 24 patients. A biphasic bolus injection protocol was used with the second injection being started 21 seconds after the first contrast dye bolus. Diagnostic image quality was rated according to a 4-point scale. Results. In 12 patients (50%) no clear separation between the cervical venous and arterial vessels was evident after the first bolus injection. Using TWIST-MRA data acquired after the second bolus a sufficient diagnostic image quality (rating ≥3, mean 3.5) could be obtained in 22 of 24 patients (92%). Discussion. The double bolus injection protocol using TWIST-MRA allows for very good separation of the cervical arteries.
authors.affiliation: Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, University of Tübingen, Hoppe-Seyler Street 3, 72076 Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Korn
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fenchel
authors.forename: Till-Karsten
authors.initials: TK
authors.lastname: Hauser
authors.forename: Sotirios
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bisdas
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nägele
authors.forename: Ulrike
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Ernemann
authors.forename: Uwe
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Klose
authors.forename: Benjamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bender