Visualization of Lenticulostriate Arteries at 3T: Optimization of Slice-selective Off-resonance Sinc Pulse prepared TOF-MRA and Its Comparison with Flow-sensitive Black-blood MRA

Rationale and Objectives: To optimize visualization of lenticulostriate artery (LSA) by time-of-flight (TOF) magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) with slice-selective off-resonance sine (SORS) saturation transfer Contrast pulses and to Compare capability of optimal TOF-MRA and flow-sensitive black-blood (FSBB) MRA to visualize the LSA at 3T. Materials and Methods: This study was approved by the local ethics committee, and written informed consent was-obtained from all the subjects. TOF-MRA was optimized in 20 subjects by comparing SORS pulses of different flip angles: 0, 400 degrees, and 750 degrees. Numbers of LSAs were counted, The optimal TOF-MRA was compared to FSBB-MRA in 21 subjects. Images were evaluated by the numbers and length of visualized LSAs. Results: LSAs were significantly more visualized in TOF-MRA with SOBS pulses of 400 degrees than others (P < .003). When:the optimal TOF-MRA was compared to FSBB,MRA, the visualization of LSA using FSBB (mean branch numbers 11.1, 95% Confidence interval (CI) 10.0-12.1; mean-total length 236 mm, 95% Cl 210-263 mm) was significantly better than using TOF (4.7, 95% Cl 4.1-5.3; 78 mm, 95% Cl 67-89 mm) for both numbers and length of the LSA (P < .0001). Conclusions: LSA visualization was best with 400 degrees SORS pulses for TOF-MRA but FSBB-MRA was better than TOF-MRA, which indicates its clinical potential to investigate the LSA on a 3T magnetic resonance imaging.