Non-Contrast Enhanced
Mitsue Miyazaki1,2

1Radiology, UCSD, La Jolla, CA, United States, 2Canon Medical Systems Corp., Otawara, Japan

Synopsis

Various established non-contrast enhanced MRA techniques such as time-of-flight (TOF), quiescent interval single-shot (QISS), fresh blood imaging (FBI), and a flow-in spin labeling are discussed with their characteristic features. In addition, recent on-going research techniques are introduced such as flow-sensitive dephasing (FSD), velocity-selective inversion preparation with 3D bSSFP, radial QISS, and radial fast interrupted steady-state (FISS).

Due to the concern related to Gd-associated nephrogenic systemic fibrosis (NSF) and Gd depositions in brain and other tissues [1-4], there has been increased interest in non-contrast-enhanced MRA (NCE-MRA) techniques as an alternative [5-8]. In this lecture, various established techniques such as time-of-flight (TOF), quiescent interval single-shot (QISS) [9], fresh blood imaging (FBI) [10,11], and a flow-in spin labeling [12-14] are discussed with their characteristic features. 3D TOF is used in standard intracranial NCE-MRA using a fast inflow effect at intracranial arteries. QISS also uses the inflow effect at relatively slower flow arteries in the peripheral arteries which relies on a pre-saturation RF pulse to saturate the signal in the imaging slice to gain contrast of arteries over the background. Following the pre-saturation, during a ‘‘quiescent interval’’ (QI) fresh inflowing blood enters the saturated slice using a maximum inflow effect during systole with a single-shot 2D bSSFP read-out. FBI relies on a physiological signal difference between systolic- and diastolic-triggered images, utilizing image subtraction in conjunction with an electrocardiographic (ECG)-gated single-shot FSE (SSFSE). The flow-in spin labeling technique is useful in abdominal vessels by applying a spatially (or slab) selective inversion recovery (IR) (tagging) pulse to saturate a region of interest to depict untagged spins flowing into the tagged region during the inversion recovery time (TI). Furthermore, recent on-going research techniques are introduced such as flow-sensitive dephasing (FSD) [15,16], velocity-selective inversion preparation with 3D bSSFP [17], radial QISS [18], and radial fast interrupted steady-state (FISS) [19].

Acknowledgements

No acknowledgement found.

References

1] Aime S and Caravan P. J. Magn Reson Imaging 2009;30(6):1259–1267.

2] Kanda T, Ishii K, Kawaguchi H, Kitajima K, Takenaka D. Radiology 2014; 270: 834–841.

3] Kanda T, Osawa M, Oba H, et al. Radiology 2015;276:228–232.

4] McDonald RJ, McDonald JS, Kallmes DF, et al. Radiology 2015;277:924–925.

5] Miyazaki M and Lee VS. Radiology 2008;248:20–43.

6] Miyazaki M and Isoda H. European Journal of Radiology 2011;80:9–23.

7] Miyazaki M and Akahane M. JMRI 2012;35:1–19.　

8] Wheaton AJ and Miyazaki M. JMRI 2012;36:286–304.

9] Edelman RR, Sheehan JJ, Dunkle E, et al. Magn Reson Med. 2010;63:951–958.

10] Miyazaki M, Sugiura S, Tateishi F, Wada H, Kassai Y, and Abe H. JMRI 2000;12:776–783.

11] Miyazaki M, Takai H, Sugiura S, et al. Radiology 2003;227:890–896.

12] Kanazawa H and Miyazaki M. ISMRM 11th Annual Meeting, Hawaii, p140, 2002.

13] Parienty I, Rostoker G, Jouniaux F, et al., Radiology 259:592-601, 2011.

14] Glockner JF, Takahashi N, Kawashima A, et al. JMRI 2010; 31:1411–1418.

15] Fan Z, Sheehan J, Bi X, et al. Magn Reson Med 2009;62:1523–1532.

16] Fan Z, Zhou X, Bi X, et al. Magn Reson Med 2011;65:964–972.

17] Shin T, Worters PW, Hu BS, Nishimura D. Magn Reson Med 2013;69:1268–1275.

18] Edelman RR, Giri S, Murphy IG, et al. Magn Reson Med 2014;72:1522–1529.

19] Koktzoglou I and Edelman RR. Magn Reson in Med 2018;79:2077–2086.

Proc. Intl. Soc. Mag. Reson. Med. 27 (2019)