MR angiography of the iliac and upper femoral arteries using four different inflow techniques.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to compare two inflow MR angiography pulse sequences obtained with and without systolic synchronization. We also compared these two MR angiography pulse sequences with conventional angiography. SUBJECTS AND METHODS Thirty-one consecutive patients who were scheduled for conventional angiography because of symptomatic atherosclerotic occlusive disease of the iliac or femoral artery underwent MR angiography using four different MR angiography techniques. These techniques consisted of a multiple two-dimensional inversion prepulse gradient-recalled echo technique (turbo field-echo) obtained with and without systolic synchronization and a multiple two-dimensional gradient-recalled echo technique (fast field-echo) obtained with and without systolic synchronization. We then compared image quality and our ability to detect and grade degree and length of stenosis, using conventional angiography as the gold standard. RESULTS The systolic-synchronized turbo field-echo sequence produced the best results both objectively and subjectively. Comparing systolic-synchronized turbo field-echo and fast field-echo techniques with conventional angiography regarding detection and grading degree of stenoses, we found no statistically significant differences. CONCLUSION Systolic synchronization proved to be of significant importance for image quality. The systolic-synchronized turbo field-echo pulse sequence proved to be superior to the other three MR angiography techniques.