title: Ultrahigh-field MPRAGE Magnetic Resonance Angiography at 7.0 T in patients with cerebrovascular disease.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Time-of-flight (TOF) magnetic-resonance-angiography (MRA) identifies vessel pathology in cerebrovascular disease. At 7.0 T, the clinical performance of TOF-MRA is constrained owing to radio frequency power deposition. We studied the diagnostic value of whole-brain MPRAGE-based MRA as an alternative imaging technique in comparison to the clinical standard 3.0 T TOF-MRA.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients with stroke and/or moya-moya disease were included. TOF-MRA was performed at 3.0 T and MPRAGE-MRA at 7.0 T. Two radiologists rated the MRAs independently for overall quality and local arterial segment visualization. The identification of steno-occlusive pathology was reported for each protocol.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In 18 patients (9 females; 6 patients with moya-moya) 7.0 T MPRAGE-MRA provided better overall image quality and better distinction of small structures compared to 3.0 T TOF-MRA. These findings were pronounced in the proximal segments of the anterior cerebral artery (A1), middle cerebral artery (M1, M2), posterior cerebral artery (P1) and the posterior communicating artery. Seven steno-occlusive findings were identified by both imaging protocols.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  For clinical studies using ultrahigh field MRI, 7.0 T MPRAGE-MRA provides a suitable alternative to TOF-MRA imaging to identify brain vessel pathology and yields simultaneous structural brain imaging within clinically feasible acquisition times.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology and Center for Stroke Research Berlin (CSB), Charité-Universitätsmedizin, Berlin, Germany. Electronic address: vince_istvan.madai@charite.de.
authors.forename: Vince I
authors.initials: VI
authors.lastname: Madai
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology and Center for Stroke Research Berlin (CSB), Charité-Universitätsmedizin, Berlin, Germany; Fraunhofer MEVIS, Bremen, Germany.
authors.forename: Federico C
authors.initials: FC
authors.lastname: von Samson-Himmelstjerna
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Charité-Universitätsmedizin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Nora
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sandow
authors.affiliation: Fraunhofer MEVIS, Bremen, Germany.
authors.forename: Florian
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Weiler
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology and Center for Stroke Research Berlin (CSB), Charité-Universitätsmedizin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Miriam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bauer
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Charité-Universitätsmedizin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vajkoczy
authors.affiliation: Fraunhofer MEVIS, Bremen, Germany; Faculty 1 (Physics and electrical engineering), University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany.
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Günther
authors.affiliation: Institute of Neuroradiology, University Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany; Department of Neurology and Center of Clinical Neuroscience, Charles University in Prague, 1st Faculty of Medicine and General University Hospital in Prague, Praha, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Petr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dusek
authors.affiliation: Institute of Neuroradiology, University Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Philipp
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Von Gottberg
authors.affiliation: Berlin Ultra-High Field Facility (B.U.F.F.), Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC), Berlin, Germany; Experimental and Clinical Research Center (ECRC), Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin and Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC), Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Thoralf
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Niendorf
authors.affiliation: Berlin Ultra-High Field Facility (B.U.F.F.), Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC), Berlin, Germany; NeuroCure Clinical Research Center, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany; Institute of Neuroradiology, University Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany; Medical Image Analysis Center, Basel, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Jens
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wuerfel
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology and Center for Stroke Research Berlin (CSB), Charité-Universitätsmedizin, Berlin, Germany; Experimental and Clinical Research Center (ECRC), Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin and Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC), Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sobesky
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002536:Cerebral Arteries / Q000473:pathology*; D002561:Cerebrovascular Disorders / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D018810:Magnetic Resonance Angiography / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: 7T MRI; Angiography; Cerebrovascular disease; Diagnostic imaging; Magnetic resonance imaging