Frank G.
Zllner1, Stefan Scheuer1,2, Erik Tumat1,
Lothar R. Schad1
1Computer Assisted Clinical Medicine,
Heidelberg University, Mannheim, Germany; 2Chair for Applied
Physics and Center for NanoScience, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich,
Munich, Germany
The
aim of this work was to investigate whether 3D PC-MRI could be applied to support
the grading of stenosis in med-sized arteries. Using a specially constructed
flow phantom and a stenosis model with tube diameter of 8 mm and a stenosis
of 50%, experiments at different flow rates (180 - 640 ml/s), slice thickness
(1 4 mm), field strength (1.5 and 3.0 T) were performed. Results show that
examinations should be performed at high field (3.0 T) and at flow rates up
to 500 ml/min without hampering the measurements by areas of signal loss. 3D
PC-MRI of mid-sized vessels with stenosis is feasible for certain flow rates.
The presented results could be seen as guidance for in vivo situations to
assess if an examination of a patient is reasonable in terms of outcome.