Abstract #0885

Jaspers K, Backes W, Nijenhuis R

Very small spinal cord arteries and veins were dynamically resolved using keyhole dynamic contrast-enhanced MR angiography in healthy volunteers and thoraco-abdominal aortic aneurysm patients. Venous enhancement appeared at least one dynamic phase (6 - 8 s) later than arterial enhancement. According to computer simulations the keyhole fraction should be taken as large as possible to account for the peripheral k-space information of the small vessels, and to avoid signal intensity loss and vessel blurring as much as possible.