Large-cohort comparison between three-dimensional time-of-flight magnetic resonance and rotational digital subtraction angiographies in intracranial aneurysm detection.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The value of MR angiography varies in diagnosis of intracranial aneurysms due to the difference of equipment and imaging technique. This study was to compare the effectiveness of 3-dimensional time-of-flight MR angiography at 3 T and rotational digital subtraction angiography, both with volume rendering (VR), in detecting intracranial aneurysms. METHODS One hundred thirty-eight patients with suspected or known aneurysms and other cerebral vascular diseases detected by MR angiography underwent digital subtraction angiography examinations. Postprocessing techniques, including VR and the single artery highlighting method, were performed by a 3-dimensional specialist. The VR-digital subtraction angiography was obtained as the gold standard. RESULTS The rotational digital subtraction angiography and VR-digital subtraction angiography revealed 146 aneurysms in 122 patients and no aneurysms in 16 patients. Of the 276 vessels examined, 136 vessels had 146 aneurysms and 140 vessels had none. Per vessel and per aneurysm sensitivities were 100%, whereas the per vessel accuracy ranged from 97.5% to 98.6% and the per aneurysm accuracy ranged from 95.1% to 97.0%. CONCLUSIONS VR 3-dimensional time-of-flight MR angiography at 3 T has excellent sensitivity, accuracy, and correlation with VR-digital subtraction angiography and is comparable to catheter cerebral angiography for the evaluation of patients with intracranial aneurysms who tolerate MR angiography well.