Abstract
PURPOSE: To prospectively evaluate three magnetic resonance (MR) imaging techniques for detection of pulmonary embolism. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Eighteen patients in whom the presence of acute or chronic pulmonary emboli was suspected underwent examination with the following pulse sequences: cardiac-gated spin echo, cine spatial modulation of magnetization, and two-dimensional time-of-flight pulmonary breath-hold (PBH) MR angiography. Three radiologists independently and blindly reviewed each case and graded a total of 518 arterial segments for each pulse sequence with a continuous scale of 0%-100% for likelihood of pulmonary embolism. RESULTS: The overall sensitivity of PBH MR angiography for detection of acute pulmonary emboli was 0.85; for chronic emboli, which were smaller in anteroposterior (AP) diameter, the overall sensitivity was 0.42. Emboli larger than 1 cm in AP diameter were typically identified with >75% confidence with all pulse sequences. CONCLUSION: Acute pulmonary emboli greater than 1 cm in AP diameter were as accurately identified on PBH MR angiograms obtained in 15 seconds as they were on MR images obtained with longer pulse sequences not dependent on breath holding.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 125-131 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | Radiology |
| Volume | 189 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| State | Published - Oct 1993 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Embolism, pulmonary, 60.72, 944.77
- Magnetic resonance (MR), comparative studies
- Magnetic resonance (MR), vascular studies, 564.121411, 564.121416, 564.12142
- Pulmonary arteries, stenosis or obstruction, 564.72, 564.775, 564.813
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Radiological and Ultrasound Technology