Noncontrast MR angiography for comprehensive assessment of abdominopelvic arteries using quadruple inversion-recovery preconditioning and 3D balanced steady-state free precession imaging

Purpose: To develop a noncontrast magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) method for comprehensive evaluation of abdominopelvic arteries in a single 3D acquisition. Materials and Methods: A noncontrast MRA (NC MRA) pulse sequence was developed using four inversion-recovery (IR) pulses and 3D balanced steady-state free precession (b-SSFP) readout to provide arterial imaging from renal to external iliac arteries. Respiratory triggered, high spatial resolution (1.3 × 1.3 × 1.7 mm³) noncontrast angiograms were obtained in seven volunteers and ten patients referred for gadolinium-enhanced MRA (CE MRA). Images were assessed for diagnostic quality by two radiologists. Quantitative measurements of arterial signal contrast were also performed. Results: NC MRA imaging was successfully completed in all subjects in 7.0 ± 2.3 minutes. In controls, image quality of NC MRA averaged 2.79 ± 0.39 on a scale of 0-3, where 3 is maximum. Image quality of NC MRA (2.65 ± 0.41) was comparable to that of CE MRA (2.9 ± 0.32) in all patients. Contrast ratio measurements in patients demonstrated that NC MRA provides arterial contrast comparable to source CE MRA images with adequate venous and excellent background tissue suppression. Conclusion: The proposed noncontrast MRA pulse sequence provides high-quality visualization of abdominopelvic arteries within clinically feasible scan times.