Non-Contrast Enhanced MRA Using Inhance Inflow IR with 3D FRFSE for Carotid Artery Imaging

Naoyuki Takei¹, Mitsuharu Miyoshi¹, Tetsuji Tsukamoto¹

A new non-contrast enhanced MR angiography was proposed. Inhance Inflow IR is a method to depict blood flow employing inversion recovery pulse to suppress background tissues on imaging volume and move unsaturated flowing blood spins into the volume. The fully recovered blood magnetization in equilibrium state and elaborated background suppression technique with multiple inversion pulses provide high contrast ratio between arterial blood and background tissues. To demonstrate this presented technique feasible, comparison study with conventional TOF MRA were performed using an investigational version of the Inhance Inflow IR in healthy volunteers. The comparable results on vessel depiction of entire carotid arteries were obtained.