• Proceedings of the Korea Contents Association Conference
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• 2009.05a
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• pp.1105-1110
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• 2009

To assess the clinical value of time resolved imaging of contrast kinetics(TRICKS) MRA by comparison with conventional time of flight(TOF) MR angiography. Both TOF-MRA and TRICKS-MRA were performed in 17 patients with cerebrovascular disease and in 6 patients with brain tumor. Among 17 cerebraovascular patients, digital subtraction angiography(DSA) data were also obtained in 11 patients. TOF-MRA showed good spatial resolution but short in temporal resolution. Although TRICKS-MRA showed somewhat low spatial resolution, it showed superior temporal resolution by distinguishing vessel and tumor in all patients. Also, from the analysis of vessel-tumor relationship, TRICKS-MRA showed better performance than TOF-MRA. TRICKS-MRA makes it possible to image arterial, capillary and venous phase sequentially with very speedy manner and therefore, the clinical use of this method is highly suggestive for future use.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.275-280
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• 2003

The method of simultaneous data acquisition of arteries and veins(SAAV) was suggested to obtain MR angiography of arteries and veins at 0.3T low filed MRI system (Magfinder, AlLab. Korea). Two separated artery- and vein-images were put together using AVCM(Artery-Vein Color Mapping) algorithm and presented in the same image. In this study, artery- and vein-separated angiograms of volunteer's neck were obtained. Two dimensioal blood-enhanced images wre sequentially obtained using SAAV pulse sequence based on time-of-flight(TOF) method with flow compensation. Imaging parameters were TR/TE=70/12msec. FOV=230mm, slice thickness = 3mm, flip angle=90$^{\circ}$, matrix size=256${\times}$256${\times}$64mm. TSat TH/SPA=15/20mm, Ts_v=10msec and Ts_a=40ms. 3D MRA images were reconstructed using the maximum intensity projection(MIP) and the artery-vein color mapping(AVCM) algorithm. This study showed good possibility of clinical applications of MRA in 0.3T which provides valuable diagnostic information of clinical vascular diseases.

• Journal of KIISE:Software and Applications
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• v.30 no.12
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• pp.1247-1254
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• 2003

Currently. the north american symptomatic carotid endarterectomy trial, european carotid surgery trial, and common carotid method are used to measure the carotid stenosis for determining candidate for carotid endarterectomy using the projection angiography from different modalities such as digital subtraction angiography. rotational angiography, computed tomography angiography and magnetic resonance angiography. A new computerized carotid stenosis measuring system was developed using MR angiography axial image to overcome the drawbacks of conventional carotid stenosis measuring methods, to reduce the variability of inter-observer and intra-observer. The gray-level thresholding is one of the most popular and efficient method for image segmentation. We segmented the carotid artery and lumen from three-dimensional time-of-flight MRA axial image using gray-level thresholding technique. Using the measured intima-media thickness value of common carotid artery for each cases, we separated carotid artery wall from the segmented carotid artery region. After that, the regions of segmented carotid without artery wall were divided into region of blood flow and plaque. The calculation of carotid stenosis degree was performed as the following; carotid stenosis grading is(area measure of plaque/area measure of blood flow region and plaque) * 100%.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.82 no.6
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• pp.1619-1627
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• 2021

Central venous stenosis is a relatively common complication in hemodialysis patients; however, jugular venous reflux (JVR) and increased intracranial pressure are rare, and associated progressive visual disturbance was reported in only a few cases. Here, we report a case of JVR with visual disturbance and increased intracranial pressure. Notably, the MRI was accompanied by a dilatation of the superior ophthalmic vein, which was mistaken for a cavernous sinus dural arteriovenous fistula (CSdAVF). The patient had JVR on time-of-flight MR angiography (TOF-MRA) and severe stenosis of the left brachiocephalic vein on conventional angiography. After balloon angioplasty for central venous stenosis, he was discharged after improvement of his visual disturbance. Although JVR due to central venous stenosis and CSdAVF might show similar symptoms, treatment plans are different. Therefore, it is important to distinguish radiologically based on a thorough review of MRI and TOF-MRA and confirm the central venous stenosis on cerebral angiography for the accurate diagnosis.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.94-101
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• 2018

Purpose: To determine the value of the appearance of the high signal intensity halo sign for detecting carotid intraplaque hemorrhage (IPH) on maximum intensity projection (MIP) of time-of-flight (TOF) MR angiography (MRA), based on high signal intensity on magnetization-prepared rapid acquisition with gradient-echo (MPRAGE) sequencing. Materials and Methods: A total of 78 carotid arteries in 65 patients with magnetization-prepared rapid acquisition gradient-echo (MPRAGE) positive on carotid plaque MR imaging were included in this study. High-resolution MR imaging was performed on a 3.0-T scanner prior to carotid endarterectomy or carotid artery stenting. Fast spin-echo T1- and T2-weighted axial imaging, TOF, and MPRAGE sequences were obtained. Carotid plaques with high signal intensity on MPRAGE > 200% that of adjacent muscle on at least two consecutive slices were defined as showing IPH. Halo sign of high signal intensity around the carotid artery was found on MIP from TOF MRA. Continuous and categorical variables were compared among groups using the Mann-Whitney test and Fisher's exact tests. Results: Of these 78 carotid arteries, 53 appeared as a halo sign on the TOF MRA. The total IPH volume of patients with a positive halo sign was significantly higher than that of patients without a halo sign ($75.0{\pm}86.8$ vs. $16.3{\pm}18.2$, P = 0.001). The maximum IPH axial wall area in patients with a positive halo sign was significantly higher than that of patients without a halo sign ($11.3{\pm}9.9$ vs. $3.7{\pm}3.6$, P = 0.000). Conclusion: High signal intensity halo of IPH on MIP of TOF MRA is associated with total volume and maximal axial wall area of IPH.

• Proceedings of the KOSOMBE Conference
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• v.1989 no.05
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• pp.27-28
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• 1989

In conventional line scan angiography, flow signal has been enhanced by the time_of_flight effect while the signal from stationary tissues has been suppressed by the saturation rf pulse followed by spoiling gradients. Due to the inhomogeneous rf field and the tissue dependent T1 relaxation time, however, stationary tissues can not be suppressed completely or uniformly, and the remnant stationary signal deteriorates the resultant angiogram. Here, the complete cancellation of stationary tissues is made possible by the spectral analysis of a series of repetitive line images of the same slice. The Fourier transformation of a set of line images results in the spectrum images, where stationary tissues are collected into the dc component while arteries are included in harmonic components because of the variation of the flow velocity and the resultant flow signal in arteries according to the cardiac cycle. The summation of harmonic components excluding the dc component results in the angiogram of arteries with the complete cancellation of stationary tissues.

• Korean Journal of Radiology
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.575-588
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• 2024

Objective: Differentiating intracranial aneurysms from normal variants using CT angiography (CTA) or MR angiography (MRA) poses significant challenges. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of proton-density MRA (PD-MRA) compared to high-resolution time-of-flight MRA (HR-MRA) in diagnosing aneurysms among patients with indeterminate findings on conventional CTA or MRA. Materials and Methods: In this retrospective analysis, we included patients who underwent both PD-MRA and HR-MRA from August 2020 to July 2022 to assess lesions deemed indeterminate on prior conventional CTA or MRA examinations. Three experienced neuroradiologists independently reviewed the lesions using HR-MRA and PD-MRA with reconstructed voxel sizes of 0.25³ mm³ or 0.2³ mm³, respectively. A neurointerventionist established the gold standard with digital subtraction angiography. We compared the performance of HR-MRA, PD-MRA (0.25³-mm³ voxel), and PD-MRA (0.2³-mm³ voxel) in diagnosing aneurysms, both per lesion and per patient. The Fleiss kappa statistic was used to calculate inter-reader agreement. Results: The study involved 109 patients (average age 57.4 ± 11.0 years; male:female ratio, 11:98) with 141 indeterminate lesions. Of these, 78 lesions (55.3%) in 69 patients were confirmed as aneurysms by the reference standard. PD-MRA (0.25³-mm³ voxel) exhibited significantly higher per-lesion diagnostic performance compared to HR-MRA across all three readers: sensitivity ranged from 87.2%-91.0% versus 66.7%-70.5%; specificity from 93.7%-96.8% versus 58.7%-68.3%; and accuracy from 90.8%-92.9% versus 63.8%-69.5% (P ≤ 0.003). Furthermore, PD-MRA (0.25³-mm³ voxel) demonstrated significantly superior per-patient specificity and accuracy compared to HR-MRA across all evaluators (P ≤ 0.013). The diagnostic accuracy of PD-MRA (0.2³-mm³ voxel) surpassed that of HR-MRA and was comparable to PD-MRA (0.25³-mm³ voxel). The kappa values for inter-reader agreements were significantly higher in PD-MRA (0.820-0.938) than in HR-MRA (0.447-0.510). Conclusion: PD-MRA outperformed HR-MRA in diagnostic accuracy and demonstrated almost perfect inter-reader consistency in identifying intracranial aneurysms among patients with lesions initially indeterminate on CTA or MRA.

• Proceedings of the KSMRM Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.97-97
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• 2003

Contrast-enhanced MR angiography (CE-MRA) gradually occupies its position as a primary evaluation tool forsteno-occlusive disease of supra-aortic cervical arteries. It has several advantages over time-of-flight (TOF) technique such as shorter imaging time, less saturation effect, and less flow- and motion-related artifacts. Diverse methods of k-space sampling, imaging sequences, and strategies for image acquisitiontiming have been introduced since its early clinical application. Especially, methods of k-space sampling and image acquisition timing are very important to achieve maximal arterial enhancement and suppress venous signal while maintaining large scan coverage and high spatial resolution. In addition, regardless of several advantages over TOF technique, it still has a tendency to overestimate the degree of stenosis in patients with carotid or vertebralartery disease. In this exhibit, we will overview the current techniques of CE-MRA with special attention to methods of k-space sampling and image acquisition timing. We will also discuss diagnostic accuracy of CE-MRA in patients with supra-aortic cervical artery stenosis and artifacts frequently misinterpreted as steno-occlusive lesion on CE-MRA.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.84 no.6
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• pp.1361-1366
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• 2023

The persistent primitive olfactory artery (PPOA) is a rare variant of the anterior cerebral artery, first reported in 1979. It reportedly has a high correlation with the development of aneurysms, owing to the hemodynamic stress induced by the structural characteristics of the hairpin turn. Herein, we present a rare case of PPOA type 4 with a fusiform aneurysm at the hairpin turn segment in a 46-year-old female with occasional headaches. Time-of-flight MR angiography and transfemoral cerebral angiography revealed an unusual branch arising from the left A1 segment, running anteromedially along the ipsilateral olfactory tract, and turning the hairpin posterior to the olfactory bulb. This branch continued into the left accessory middle cerebral artery, and a fusiform aneurysm was observed at the hairpin segment. No further treatment was performed, and follow-up imaging was recommended. Nevertheless, it is essential to recognize and diagnose these rare variations.

• Journal of Magnetics
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.185-191
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• 2014

In this study we evaluated that flow rate changes affect the (time of flight) TOF image and contrast-enhanced (CE) in a three-dimensional TOF angiography. We used a 3.0T MR System, a nonpulsatile flow rate model. Saline was used as a fluid injected at a flow rate of 11.4 cm/sec by auto injector. The fluid signal strength, phantom body signal strength and background signal strength were measured at 1, 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25-th cross-section in the experienced images and then they were used to determine signal-to-noise ratio and contrast-to-noise ratio. The inlet, middle and outlet length were measured using coronal images obtained through the maximum intensity projection method. As a result, the length of inner cavity was 2.66 mm with no difference among the inlet, middle and outlet length. We also could know that the magnification rate is 49-55.6% in inlet part, 49-59% in middle part and 49-59% in outlet part, and so the image is generally larger than in the actual measurement. Signal-to-noise ratio and contrast-to-noise ratio were negatively correlated with the fluid velocity and so we could see that signal-to-noise ratio and contrast-to-noise ratio are reduced by faster fluid velocity. Signal-to-noise ratio was 42.2-52.5 in 5-25th section and contrast-to-noise ratio was from 34.0-46.1 also not different, but there was a difference in the 1st section. The smallest 3D TOF MRA measure was $2.51{\pm}0.12mm$ with a flow velocity of 40 cm/s. Consequently, 3D TOF MRA tests show that the faster fluid velocity decreases the signal-to-noise ratio and contrast-to-noise ratio, and basically it can be determined that 3D TOF MRA and 3D CE MRA are displayed larger than in the actual measurement.