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Abstract #1379

Comparison of Non Contrast-Enhanced Balanced TFE and CE-MRA for Evaluation of Upper Extremity Vasculature Prior to Vascular Access Creation

Arie Simon Bode1,2, Robrecht Nils Planken3, Bastiaan Versluis1, Joachim E. Wildberger1,4, Jan H. Tordoir2,5, Tim Leiner1,5

1Radiology, Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht, Netherlands; 2Surgery, Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht, Netherlands; 3Radiology, Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, Netherlands; 4Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht, Maastricht, , Netherlands; 5Cardiovascular Research Institute Maastricht, Maastricht, Netherlands


Knowledge of upper extremity vascular geometry prior to dialysis access creation improves clinical outcome. Purpose of the present study was to compare a non-contrast enhanced (NCE) balanced TFE sequence with the current standard of reference, CE-MRA. In 10 healthy volunteers and 5 patients with ESRD we obtained both NCE-bTFE and CE-MRA images. Although CE-MRA was superior for arterial depiction NCE-bTFE yielded images of diagnostic quality in the vast majority of subjects. Furthermore, NCE-bTFE enabled visualization of significantly more venous segments compared compared to CE-MRA. bTFE proved to be an attractive alternative for pre-operative vascular mapping prior to vascular access creation.