The clinical value of MRA at 3.0 T for the diagnosis and therapeutic planning of patients with subarachnoid haemorrhage.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the clinical value of unenhanced magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) at 3.0 T for the diagnosis and therapeutic planning of patients with subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH).

METHODS

A total of 165 patients with SAH were referred for three-dimensional time-of-flight MRA (3D-TOF-MRA) before digital subtraction angiography (DSA). For each aneurysm, 3D-TOF-MRA was used to determine whether the aneurysm was suitable for coil placement with or without balloon/stent-assisted coiling, surgical clipping or conservative treatment. Treatment planning with 3D-TOF-MRA was compared with actual treatment decisions or treatment that had been carried out in each aneurysm decided using DSA.

RESULTS

The aneurysm-based evaluation yielded accuracy of 96.9%, sensitivity of 97.6%, specificity of 93.1%, positive predictive value (PPV) of 98.8% and negative predictive value (NPV) of 87.1%, in the detection of intracranial aneurysms. Treatment planning could be correctly made on the basis of aneurysm anatomy and working view by volume rendering (VR) 3D-TOF-MRA with accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, PPV and NPV of 94.9%, 94.0%, 100%, 100% and 74.4%, respectively, on a per aneurysm-based evaluation.

CONCLUSIONS

VR 3D-TOF-MRA offers high diagnostic accuracy in the detection of ruptured intracranial aneurysms, and appears to be an effective treatment planning tool for most patients with SAH.

KEY POINTS

VR 3D-TOF-MRA offers high diagnostic accuracy for detecting ruptured intracranial aneurysms. • VR 3D-TOF-MRA helps treatment planning for patients with subarachnoid haemorrhage. • 3D-TOF-MRA is non-invasive and avoids using ionising radiation or contrast agents.