gms | German Medical Science

66th Annual Meeting of the German Society of Neurosurgery (DGNC)
Friendship Meeting with the Italian Society of Neurosurgery (SINch)

German Society of Neurosurgery (DGNC)

7 - 10 June 2015, Karlsruhe

Article

Send article

Non-enhanced magnetic resonance angiography of intracranial arterial vasculature at 7 Tesla

Meeting Abstract

Search Medline for

  • Toshinori Matsushige - Klinik für Neurochirurgie, Universitätsklinikum Essen, Universität Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany; Department of Neurosurgery, Graduate School of Biomedical and Health Sciences, Hiroshima University, Hiroshima, Japan
  • Bixa Chen - Klinik für Neurochirurgie, Universitätsklinikum Essen, Universität Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany; Erwin L. Hahn Institute for Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Universität Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany
  • Oliver Müller - Klinik für Neurochirurgie, Universitätsklinikum Essen, Universität Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany
  • Harald H. Quick - Erwin L. Hahn Institute for Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Universität Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany
  • Ulrich Sure - Klinik für Neurochirurgie, Universitätsklinikum Essen, Universität Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany
  • Karsten H. Wrede - Klinik für Neurochirurgie, Universitätsklinikum Essen, Universität Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany; Erwin L. Hahn Institute for Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Universität Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie. 66. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie (DGNC). Karlsruhe, 07.-10.06.2015. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2015. DocP 158

doi: 10.3205/15dgnc556, urn:nbn:de:0183-15dgnc5562

Published: June 2, 2015

© 2015 Matsushige et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. See license information at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

Outline

Text

Objective: This study prospectively evaluates depiction of intracranial arterial vasculature with non-enhanced magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) at 7 Tesla (T).

Method: Fifty subjects, including 23 males and 27 females with an average age of 45 years (range 22 - 70) were prospectively enrolled in this trial. All subjects underwent non-enhanced magnetization prepared rapid gradient echo (MPRAGE) and time-of-flight (TOF) MRA utilizing an ultra-high-field 7 T whole-body MR system with a commercial 32-channel radiofrequency head coil. Eleven intracranial vessel segments were rated individually by two experienced radiologists on multiplanar reconstructions with regard to vessel delineation (VD), vessel sharpness (VS) and vessel-tissue-contrast (VTC): internal carotid artery; middle cerebral artery: M1, M2, M3; anterior cerebral artery: A1, A2; basilar artery; posterior cerebral artery: P1, P2; anterior and posterior communicating arteries. In addition the presence of lenticulostriate arteries was assessed. Further overall ratings included image inhomogeneity, pulsation artifacts and overall image quality. Interobserver agreement was calculated using the kappa coefficient.

Results: For all subjects, all segments of intracranial vessels could be delineated in both sequences except for cases (6/50) with anatomical variations (aplasia of communicating arteries). Proximal vessels of the anterior circulation (M1, M2, A1) were rated equal or superior in MPRAGE compared to TOF MRA, whereas peripheral vessels in the anterior circulation and vessels in the posterior circulation were rated equal or better in TOF MRA. Visualization of lenticulostriate arteries was significantly better in TOF MRA (p < 0.001). For overall imaging features MPRAGE was rated equal or superior compared to TOF MRA. Interobserver agreement was good to excellent for most ratings.

Conclusions: The combination of 7 Tesla non-enhanced MPRAGE and TOF MRA is an excellent tool for high-resolution delineation of intracerebral arterial vasculature even for very small vessels like the lenticulostriate arteries.