First-pass and high-resolution ECG-gated MRA of the thoracic vasculature in children and adolescents using gadobutrol at 3 T

Introduction Using first-pass MRA (FP-MRA) spatial resolution is limited by breath-hold duration, and image quality (IQ) may be hampered by motion artefacts. Studies at 1.5 T have shown that the use of blood-pool contrast agents (BP-CA) allows for motion-compensated high-resolution MRA during the steady-state, yielding significantly higher IQ compared to FP-MRA. However, MRA with BP-CAs does not allow for viability imaging. At 3 T the use of a slowly injected extracellular CA at double dose may allow for a high-resolution MRA (HR-MRA) AND viability imaging. Purpose The purpose of this study was 1) to implement an ECGgated free breathhing HR-MRA protocol using an extracellular CA (Gadobutrol) at 3 T and 2) to compare the vessel sharpness and image quality of standard FP-MRA to HR-MRA of the thoracic vasculature in children and adolescents with congenital disorders (CD) or acquired disease (AD) of the thoracic vasculature.