Guido Matthias Kukuk1, Dariusch Reza Hadizadeh1, Jrgen Gieseke1,2, Julia Bergener1, Gabriele Beck2, Lisbeth Geerts2, Petra Mrtz1, Azize Bostrm3, Horst Urbach1, Johannes Schramm3, Hans Heinz Schild1, Winfried Albert Willinek1
1Department of Radiology, University of Bonn, Bonn, NRW, Germany; 2Philips Healthcare, Best, Netherlands; 3Department of Neurosurgery, University of Bonn, Bonn, NRW, Germany
4D-MRA is a promising diagnostic tool for characterization of cerebral arteriovenous malformations (cAVMs), however it lacks the selectivity that is inherent to DSA. Therefore we combined selective arterial spin labelling (sASL) with 4D-MRA for anatomic and functional characterization of cAVMs at 3.0 Tesla. 4D-MRA enabled the correct Spetzler-Martin classification in 10/10 symptomatic patients. In addition the sensitivity of identification of arterial feeders and anatomic variants could be markedly improved due to the combination with sASL. Our data suggest, that 4D-MRA in combination with sASL can provide functional information that so far has been gained only with selective DSA.