A comparison of time-of-flight mr angiography, contrast-enhanced mr angiography and ct angiography to evaluate vessel area in a rabbit peripheral arterial disease model

Methods Thirteen female New Zealand White rabbits were randomized to receive either intramuscular sham injection (n=4), empty capsules (n=4) or microencapsulated MSCs (n=5) in the medial thigh 24h after endovascular occlusion of the left superficial femoral artery (SFA). Three-dimensional (3D) TOF MRA acquired in the axial plane (3T Trio Siemens, 30ms TR; 3.69ms TE; 0.6×0.4×0.6mm voxel size), 3D ceMRA acquired in the coronal plane (3T Trio Siemens, 4.27ms TR; 1.73ms TE; 0.4×0.4×0.8mm voxel size; 15ml Gadobenate Dimeglumine 185mg/mL with flow rate 0.1mL/s ) and a C-arm CTA (Axiom Artis dFA, Siemens, 8s rotation; 240° scan angle; 0.37×0.37×0.37mm voxel size;16 ml Iohexol at 4ml/s IV) were acquired in random order prior to SFA occlusion, and 7 and 14 days after occlusion. Vessel areas at seven locations were measured (Figure 1) using custom software (VesselMass, The Netherlands). A reproducibility analysis and the correlation between CTA and TOF-MRA methods were performed. Values are reported as mean ± standard deviation.