Monitoring of therapy for deep vein thrombosis using magnetic resonance imaging.

Magnetic resonance imaging using limited-flip-angle, gradient refocused pulse sequences has been used to monitor the course of anticoagulant or fibrinolytic therapy for deep vein thrombosis in two patients. The findings demonstrate the capacity of this technique to delineate the extent of thrombosis and characterize changes in size in response to treatment. Advantages of this approach include high anatomic resolution, speed of examination and non-invasiveness, properties that make it well-suited to following the progress of therapy with potentially significant implications for improving treatment.