• Yuexi Huang, Naeem Merchant, and Graham A Wright.
• Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto, Canada. huangyx@sten.sunnybrook.utoronto.ca
• J Magn Reson Imaging. 2004 Sep 1; 20 (3): 435-42.

PurposeTo compare the image quality of matched-filtered two-dimensional projection magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) and elliptical centric-ordered (EC) three-dimensional MRA.Materials And MethodsSignal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) of matched-filtered two-dimensional projection and EC three-dimensional MRA are developed theoretically and compared by clinical studies, in which 10-20 mL of gadolinium (Gd) was injected at 1.5 mL/second. The artery-vein contrast in two-dimensional projection MRA was managed by manually selecting specific templates for the matched filters.ResultsThe SNR of matched-filtered two-dimensional projection MRA is superior to that of EC three-dimensional MRA for vessels wider than one pixel due to the integral effect. The artery-vein contrast can be managed flexibly in two-dimensional projection MRA by choosing different templates for the matched filter, while the artery-vein contrast in EC three-dimensional MRA is solely determined by the timing to start the acquisition.ConclusionMatched-filtered two-dimensional projection MRA provides comparable image quality and is a flexible alternative to EC three-dimensional MRA in applications where contrast timing is difficult and temporal information is of interest.Copyright 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

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