American Journal of Roentgenology, Vol 160, 35-40, Copyright © 1993 by American Roentgen Ray Society
MR angiography of the portal and hepatic venous systems: preliminary experience with echoplanar imaging
MA Goldberg, EK Yucel, S Saini, PF Hahn, JA Kaufman and MS Cohen
Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston 02114.
OBJECTIVE. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the ability of
echoplanar MR angiography to depict the major hepatic and portal venous
structures. SUBJECTS AND METHODS. Echoplanar and conventional MR
angiographic examinations were performed in 10 subjects (seven healthy
volunteers, three patients with focal hepatic lesions). A gradient-
recalled echo (GRE) time-of-flight technique (125/10 [TR/TE], 90 degrees
flip angle) was used for echoplanar angiography. Eight complete
single-excitation images were acquired at each level in 1.5 sec and then
collapsed into a single maximal intensity projection. Conventional
time-of-flight MR angiography (34/13, 30 degrees flip angle) also was
performed. The vascular anatomy from the right atrium to the splenic vein
was imaged (6-mm contiguous levels) in three 10.5-sec breath-holds with
echoplanar imaging, as compared with seven 11.5-sec breath-holds with
conventional MR angiography. Echoplanar and conventional images were
compared quantitatively and qualitatively. RESULTS. Echoplanar imaging was
61% faster than conventional MR angiography. Vessel-to- liver
signal-intensity ratios were significantly higher for echoplanar imaging (p
< .0001), signal-to-noise ratios were significantly higher for
conventional MR angiography (p < .0001), and contrast-to-noise ratios
were comparable. Qualitatively, echoplanar imaging and conventional MR
angiography provided similar anatomic information about the hepatic and
portal veins. CONCLUSION. Angiograms of the hepatic and portal venous
systems that are of diagnostic quality can be acquired much more quickly
with echoplanar imaging than with conventional MR angiography.