Assessment of critical limb ischemia in patients with diabetes: comparison of MR angiography and digital subtraction angiography.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of our study was to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of hybrid MR angiography by comparison with digital subtraction angiography (DSA) in diabetic patients with critical limb ischemia.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS

Thirty-one patients prospectively underwent both hybrid MR angiography and DSA. The hybrid MR angiography study consisted of high-resolution MR angiography of a single calf and foot using a contrast-enhanced 3D gradient-echo volumetric interpolated breath-hold examination with surface coils, followed by three-station bolus chase MR angiography with a dedicated peripheral vascular coil. Two blinded reviewers separately analyzed maximum-intensity-projection hybrid MR angiograms and DSA images. The peripheral vessels were divided into 10 anatomic segments for review. The status of each segment was graded as normal, stenosis less than 50% in diameter, stenosis greater than 50%, or occluded. The sensitivity and specificity of hybrid MR angiography were determined using DSA as the gold standard. Treatment options were considered separately from the results of each examination.

RESULTS

Among 310 analyzed segments, the sensitivities of hybrid MR angiography for stenosis and occlusion were, respectively, 95% and 95% for reviewer 1 and 96% and 90% for reviewer 2. The specificities of hybrid MR angiography for stenosis and occlusion were, respectively, 98% and 98% for reviewer 1 and 98% and 99% for reviewer 2. In 25 patients (81%), the quality of bolus chase MR angiography images was insufficient to assess runoff arteries. All treatments proposed on the basis of DSA findings were endorsed by hybrid MR angiography findings. Eleven more treatments were formulated on the basis of hybrid MR angiography findings. Of these, four were due to overestimation of stenosis on MR angiography and seven were due to the detection of patent infrageniculate arteries on hybrid MR angiography that were not detected on DSA.

CONCLUSION

Hybrid MR angiography depicts runoff arteries not seen on DSA. Hybrid MR angiography may be useful for treatment planning in selected diabetic patients with critical limb ischemia.