Utilizing SENSE to achieve lower station sub-millimeter isotropic venous enhancement in resolution and minimal peripheral MR angiography

Purpose: To use the parallel imaging technique, sensitivity encoding (SENSE), to increase spatial resolution and decrease venous contamination in peripheral magnetic resonance angiography (MRA). Materials and Methods: Moving table, single-bolus peripheral contrast-enchanced (CE)-MRA was performed on nine patients. Manual table movement combined with SENSE in the upper station allowed for more rapid overall scan coverage such that acquisition of the lower station began 34 seconds after aortic contrast arrival. True sub-millimeter isotropic resolution was achieved in the lower station. Results: Diagnostic MR angiograms of all three stations were obtained in all nine patients. Venous enhancement did not confound interpretation in any case. Sub-millimeter lower station resolution provided excellent vascular detail. Conclusion: Decreased delay time between upper and lower station acquisition in single bolus peripheral MR angiograms, now possible using parallel imaging techniques, combined with lower station sub-millimeter resolution may decrease venous contamination and increase overall interpretability, thus increasing clinical acceptance of peripheral MRA.