Diagnosis of renal artey stenosis with 3-D MR angiography

ABSTRACT Diagnosis of Renal Artery Stenosis With 3-D MR Angiography Renal artery stenosis ( RAS ) is a treatable cause of hypertension and renal failure. The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of dynamic gadolinium enhanced magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) for the diagnosis of RAS. In 31 patients, a total of 60 main renal arteries were evaluated with both MRA and DSA and the results of MRA were compared with the results of DSA, which is gold standart modality. The sequence used was a 3-D TOF SPGR sequence with the parameters: TE: minimum, flip angle: 40°, field of view (FOV): 36-42 cm, NEX:1. Gadolinium 0.2 mmol/kg was administered and 0.7 mm thick partitions were obtained. The evaluation was done using both volume rendering ( VR ), maximum intensity projection ( MIP ), and 3- D algorithms. All of the main renal arteries were detected MRA images. All of the accessory renal arteries were detected with VR and MIP images. With the use of 3-D algorithm 1 accessory renal artery was missed. Poststenotic dilatation was also evaluated. The sensitivity and specificity of VR protocol for renal artery stenosis were 86,7 % and 90 % respectively. The MIP protocol had a sensitivity of 80 % and specificity of 90 %. The sensitivity and specificity of 3-D were 80 % and 90 % respectively for renal artery stenosis. Gadolinium enhanced MRA is reliable technique for detection of renal artery stenosis. Key Words : DSA, Hypertension, MR Angiography, Renal artery stenosis VI