High Spatial Resolution and High Contrast Visualization of Brain Arteries and Veins: Impact of Blood Pool Contrast Agent and Water-Selective Excitation Imaging at 3T

Purpose To investigate a blood pool contrast agent and water-selective excitation imaging at 3T for high spatial and high contrast imaging of brain vessels including the veins Methods and Results 48 clinical patients (47 +/- 18years old) were included Based on clinical findings twenty-four patients received a single dose of standard extracellular Gadoterate-meglumine (Dotareme (R)) and 24 received the blood pool contrast agent Gadofosveset (Vasovist (R)) After finishing routine MR protocols, all patients were investigated with two high spatial resolution (0 15 mm(3) voxel size) gradient echo sequences in random order in the equilibrium phase (steadystate) as approved by the review board A standard RF-spoiled gradient-echo sequence (HR-SS TR/TE 5 1/2 3 msec, FA 30 degrees) and a fat-suppressed gradient-echo sequence with water-selective excitation (HR-FS 1331 binominal-pulse, TRITE 8 8/3 8 msec FA 30 degrees) The images were subjectively assessed (image quality with vessel contrast artifacts depiction of lesions) by two investigators and contrast-to-noise ratios (CNR) were compared using the Student's t-test The image quality and CNR in the HR-FS were significantly superior compared to the HR-SS for both contrast agents (p < 0 05) The CNR was also improved when using the blood pool agent but only to a minor extent while the subjective image quality was similar for both contrast agents Conclusion The utilized sequence with water-selective excitation improved image quality and CNR properties in high spatial resolution imaging of brain arteries and veins The used blood pool contrast agent improved the CNR only to a minor extent over the extracellular contrast agen