MR Angiography of the Head/Neck Vascular System in Mice on a Clinical MRI System

Figure 3

Lumen-to-muscle ratio and signal-to-noise measurements on of the aorta, brachiocephalic artery, and carotid artery on non-contrast-enhanced and contrast-enhanced MR angiographies. Lumen-to-muscle ratio (LMR) and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) measurements were performed in the same animal at the same location in both non-contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) time-of-flight (TOF) and contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) gadofosveset-trisodium (GdT) images. For the aorta, lumen-to-muscle ratio measurements yield higher value for the non-contrast-enhanced MRA (TOF) compared to the contrast-enhanced MRA (GdT) (3.36 ± 0.91 vs. 2.76 ± 0.75). Difference did not reach statistical significance (). For the brachiocephalic artery, LMR values were comparable between the non-contrast-enhanced and contrast-enhanced MRA (2.83 ± 0.82 vs. 2.88 ± 0.89). For the carotid artery, the LMR of the non-contrast-enhanced MRA was lower compared to the contrast-enhanced MRA (2.45 ± 0.56 vs. 2.79–0.99). Difference in LMRs and SNRs between the two techniques was not significantly different ().

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