Clinical Blood Pool MR Imaging

Magnetic resonance angiography has made great strides, with continuing improvements in hardware, pulse sequencing, and know-how allowing ever-increasing speed, resolution, and suppression of artifacts. However, an inherent physical barrier has always been limited SNR. Gadolinium contrast agents help to increase SNR by facilitating T1 relaxation, but they can be injected only at a finite rate and at a limited molar dose, and there is a rapid drop in c- centration following the brief arterial phase due to redistribution into the extracellular fluid compartment. With its sixfold increase in T1 relaxivity, blood pool distribution, and longer serum half-life, Vasovist® represents a new breakthrough which promises to revolutionize MRA image quality once again. This excellent treatise on Vasovist®, created by a team of exceptional faculty who are pioneers in MR angiography, covers the basic techniques, safety, efficacy, image processing, and pharmacoeconomic details, to successfully implement a new level of MRA image quality with this new contrast agent. In addition to improving all the usual arterial phase MRA - plications, the blood pool distribution opens up new possibilities, including detecting internal bleeding and imaging stent graft endoleaks, which are reviewed in detail. In the complex, competitive field of cardiovascular imaging, this book articulates the cutting edge in imaging vascular disease.

Magnetic resonance angiography has made great strides, with continuing improvements in hardware, pulse sequencing, and know-how allowing ever-increasing speed, resolution, and suppression of artifacts. However, an inherent physical barrier has always been limited SNR. Gadolinium contrast agents help to increase SNR by facilitating T1 relaxation, but they can be injected only at a finite rate and at a limited molar dose, and there is a rapid drop in c- centration following the brief arterial phase due to redistribution into the extracellular fluid compartment. With its sixfold increase in T1 relaxivity, blood pool distribution, and longer serum half-life, Vasovist® represents a new breakthrough which promises to revolutionize MRA image quality once again. This excellent treatise on Vasovist®, created by a team of exceptional faculty who are pioneers in MR angiography, covers the basic techniques, safety, efficacy, image processing, and pharmacoeconomic details, to successfully implement a new level of MRA image quality with this new contrast agent. In addition to improving all the usual arterial phase MRA - plications, the blood pool distribution opens up new possibilities, including detecting internal bleeding and imaging stent graft endoleaks, which are reviewed in detail. In the complex, competitive field of cardiovascular imaging, this book articulates the cutting edge in imaging vascular disease.

Contrast Agent Properties and Technical Aspects.- MRI Contrast Media — Introduction and Basic Properties of the Blood Pool Agent Gadofosveset (Vasovist®).- Technical Aspects of Contrast Enhanced MRA — First Pass and Steady State.- Safety and Efficacy.- Risks and Safety Issues Related to Radiological Imaging, in Particular MRI.- Summary of Safety of Vasovist® at 0.03 mmol/kg Body Weight Dose — Clinical Data.- Efficacy of Vasovist®: Overview of the Clinical Development Program.- Blood Pool Agents in MRA: Indications, Clinical Applications and Benefits.- Head and Neck MRA.- Pulmonary MRA.- Abdominal MRA.- MRA of the Peripheral Vasculature.- Magnetic Resonance Venography.- Whole-body MRA.- Endoleak Imaging.- Gastrointestinal Bleeding.- New Horizons in Vascular Diagnostics.- Vasovist® for Imaging Ischemic and Congenital Heart Disease.- Vasovist® in Brain Tumor Imaging.- Vasovist® in Lymph Node Imaging: Present Status and Future Development.- Vasovist® for Breast Cancer Recognition.- Vasovist® for Multiple Sclerosis Recognition.- Interventional MR Imaging.- Vasovist® in Lymphography.- Image Processing.- Image Post-processing of Blood Pool MR Angiograms.- Pharmacoeconomic Impact.- Health Economic Benefits of Vasovist®.- Patient Management and Referrals: The Impact of High-resolution Steady state MRA with Vasovist®.