Purpose: To develop a strategy for the complete work-up of vessel lumen and vessel wall for planning and follow-up of radiological interventions of lower extremity arteries.
Methods: A total of 36 patients (21 pre-, 8 post- and 7 pre- and postinterventional) were studied. MRA studies were performed using an ECG-triggered phase contrast technique for the demonstration of intraluminal flow and an axial high resolution time-of-flight technique to assess the vascular wall. All MRA studies were analysed by intraindividual DSA comparison for the assessment of flow and wall structures.
Results: Combined MRA techniques provided a good correlation with DSA for the assessment of vascular flow. The kappa test revealed a value of greater than 0.61 for most on the vessel segments proving a good correlation of both methods. Orthogonal high-resolution TOF-MRA provided additional information for the assessment postinterventional wall haematomas and hard plaques.
Conclusion: Combination of PCA to study flow and axial TOF to study wall pathology improves the usefulness of peripheral MRA.