Unenhanced ECG-Gated Fast Spin-Echo MR Digital Subtraction Angiography (MRDSA) Using SPACE with Constant Flip Angle Mode of Femoral Arteries

Satoru Morita¹, Shinya Kojima¹, Masami Hirata¹, Masaru Suzuki¹, Kazufumi Suzuki¹, Ai Masukawa¹, Eiko Ueno¹

Unenhanced electrocardiographically-gated fast spin-echo-based magnetic resonance digital subtraction angiography (MRDSA) can obtain hemodynamic information of pulse wave transmission. We prospectively compared the image quality of MRDSA using sampling perfection with application optimized contrasts using different flip angle evolutions (SPACE) with constant flip angle mode and conventional half-Fourier single-shot turbo spin-echo (HASTE) sequence of femoral arteries in 10 healthy volunteers at 1.5T MRI. All quantitative and qualitative analyses of the SPACE were significantly better than those of the HASTE. We show that unenhanced electrocardiographically-gated fast spin-echo MRDSA using SPACE with constant flip angle mode provides good visual hemodynamic information of arteries.