Improvements to NCE-MRA: Vascular Anatomy by Non-Enhanced Static Subtraction Angiography (VANESSA)

Andrew Nicholas Priest¹, Martin John Graves¹, David John Lomas¹

Non-contrast-enhanced MR angiography methods can avoid the constraints associated with a short (first pass) acquisition window and concerns over contrast agent safety. A recently demonstrated method uses a modified motion-sensitised driven equilibrium (MSDE) preparation to controllably suppress flowing blood. Vascular images are generated by subtraction of bright- and dark-blood images, obtained without and with flow suppression. This work demonstrates a series of modifications to improve image quality and background suppression, and evaluates the technical performance of the resulting method in the peripheral vasculature of 8 volunteers. Excellent image quality was obtained in all arteries, except for some popliteals.