Direct comparison of sensitivity encoding (SENSE) accelerated and conventional 3D contrast enhanced magnetic resonance angiography (CE-MRA) of renal arteries: Effect of increasing spatial resolution

Purpose: To assess the effect of attaining higher spatial resolution in contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) of renal arteries using parallel imaging, sensitivity encoding (SENSE), by comparing the SENSE contrast-enhanced (CE) MRA against a conventional CE-MRA protocol with identical scan times, injection protocol, and other acquisition parameters. Materials and Methods: Numerical simulations and a direct comparison of SENSE-accelerated versus conventional acquisitions were performed. A total of 41 patients (18 male) were imaged using both protocols for a direct comparison. Both protocols used fluoroscopic triggering, centric encoding, breath-holding, equivalent injection protocol, and lasted ≈30 seconds. Results: Simulated point-spread functions were narrower for the SENSE protocol compared to the conventional protocol. In the patient study, although the SENSE protocol produced images with lower signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), image quality was better for all segments of the renal arteries. In addition, ringing of kidney parenchyma and renal artery blurring were significantly reduced in the SENSE protocol. Finally, reader confidence improved with the SENSE protocol. Conclusion: Despite a reduction in SNR, the higher-resolution SENSE CE-MRA provided improved image quality, reduced artifacts, and increased reader confidence compared to the conventional protocol. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2010;31:149–159. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.