Accuracy of MRI for the Assessment of the Geometry of Thoracic Stent Grafts

Volker Rasche¹, Stephan Trumpp^1,2, Alexander Oberhuber², Nico Merkle¹, Karl Heinz Orend², Martin Hoffmann³, Wolfgang Rottbauer¹, Axel Bornstedt¹

Thoracic Endovascular Aortic Repair (TEVAR) has become an attractive alternative to open chest surgery especially in hemodynamic unstable patients. The possible, mostly graft related, associated complications, however require lifelong monitoring of the patients after treatment. The current gold standard for imaging is CT, which requires a rather high X-ray dose and the use of nephrotoxic contrast agents. It is the objective of this study to investigate the applicability of MRI for the assessment of stent graft geometry and smooth attachment to the vessel wall in direct comparison with CT.