Breath-hold gadolinium-enhanced three-dimensional MR thoracic aortography: higher spatial resolution imaging with phased-array coil and three-dimensional surface display.

The aim of this study was to examine signal intensities of data sets from MR thoracic aortography and to evaluate three-dimensional surface display (3DSD) for postprocessing. Twenty-five patients were imaged with gadolinium-enhanced 3D fast gradient echo sequence. The intensity at the aortic arch was significantly higher than that at the mediastinal fat (p<0.0001). The signal-to-noise ratio was lower at the aortic arch than at the ascending and descending aorta, whereas the contrast-to-noise ratio was fairly high at the aortic arch. Although in one case (4%) the intensity at the arch was smaller than that at the mediastinal fat, 3DSD was successfully performed in all cases. Superiority of 3DSD over maximum intensity projection was obtained in 67% of the cases. 3DSD was evaluated to be superior to maximum intensity projection in all cases of thoracic aortic aneurysm and coarctation of aorta. Higher resolution MR thoracic aortography could be successfully performed with phased-array coil and 3DSD.