Time-Resolved MR Angiography in Evaluation and Mapping of Central Thoracic Veno-Occlusive Disease

Kambiz Nael¹, Stefan G. Ruehm¹, Mayil Krishnam¹, Gerhad Laub², J Paul Finn¹

Using time-resolved angiography with interleaved stochastic trajectories (TWIST) and parallel acquisition can improve the performance of time-resolved MRA. Our results demonstrate that TR-MRA with a high comparable sensitivity, and need for only a small gadolinium dose (6ml), has the potential to be used as an initial and screening diagnostic tool in assessment of central venous occlusive disease, obviating the need for conventional MRA and higher contrast dose in normal or near-normal examination. However, due to relatively lower specificity of TR-MRA, adjunct use of conventional CE-MRA is still required for accurate grading of venous occlusive disease.