Comparison Between Breath-Hold and Navigator-Gated Magnetization-Prepared 3D Steady-State Free Precession for Nonenhanced Renal Magnetic Resonance Angiography

Huan Tan¹, Ioannis Koktzoglou¹, ², Christopher Glielmi³, Mauricio Galizia⁴, Robert Edelman¹, ⁴

Nonenhanced, navigator-gated, inversion-prepared MR angiography technique (Nav SSFP) has proven accurate for evaluating the patency of renal arteries. However, the scan time of Nav SSFP can be excessive depending on breathing patterns. A highly efficient single-shot 3D SSFP technique was implemented to allow the full extent of the renal arteries to be depicted in a single breath-hold (BH SSFP). Overall, BH SSFP demonstrated comparable image quality, SNR and CNR in volunteers and patients despite a mean eight-fold reduction in scan time. The initial results suggested a potential supplementary clinical role for BH SSFP in the evaluation of suspected renal artery disease.