Guanzhong Liu1,
Kezhou Wang2, Xinjian Du3, Yi Sui1, 4,
Michael P. Flannery1, Fady T. Charbel5, Nadera Sweiss6,
Xiaohong Joe Zhou1, 7
1Center
for MR Research, University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences
System, Chicago, IL, United States; 2VasSol, Inc, River Forest,
IL, United States; 3Neurosurgery, University of Illinois Hospital
& Health Sciences System, Chicago, IL, United States; 4Bioengineering,
University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States; 5Neurosurgery,
University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States; 6Rheumatology,
University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System, Chicago, IL,
United States; 7Departments of Radiology, Neurosurgery and
Bioengineering, University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System,
Chicago, IL, United States
Assessment of treatment efficacy of Raynaud's disease requires a non-invasive, reliable, and quantitative method to measure blood flow in digital arteries. The goal of this study is to develop and evaluate a phase-contrast (PC) MR technique to meet this need. A high resolution non-contrast-enhanced 3D angiogram was first obtained to survey all proper palmar digital arteries. Based on the 3D angiogram, a plane strictly normal to the artery of interest was selected using an automated algorithm to reduce measurement errors in flow quantification with a 2D PC sequence. The measurement error was further reduced by correcting for residual eddy current effects. With this approach, consistent flow measurement (< 12% intra-subject variation) was obtained from human subjects. This study paves the way for future applications on patients with Raynaud's disease.
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