ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To increase the probability of successful renal artery angiography with a three-dimensional contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance angiography (3D CE-MRA). METHODS: 3D CE-MRA was performed in 33 patients with hypertension. To calculate the scan delay time, a testing contrast agent bolus of 2 ml was injected for single sagittal slice real-time scanning, followed by oblique coronal 3D Fast TOF SPGRE. With maximum intensity projection, a set of images was acquired. RESULTS: Exact scan delay time was obtained in all the cases from which clear images were acquired with the exception of two cases in which failure of breath-holding occurred during the scanning. CONCLUSION: This examination enhances the performance by adopting elliptical-centric k-space recording for data acquisition for the center in k-space at the beginning of acquisition, and utilizing preceding testing bolus injection and signal intensity/time curve for determining the scan delay time, using slice selection and multiview image reconstruction.