Lower extremities magnetic resonance angiography with blood pressure cuff compression: Quantitative dynamic analysis

Purpose

To quantitatively evaluate changes induced by the application of a femoral blood‐pressure cuff (BPC) on run‐off magnetic resonance angiography (MRA), which is a method generally previously proposed to reduce venous contamination in the leg.

Materials and Methods

This study was Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)‐ and Institutional Review Board (IRB)‐compliant. We used time‐resolved gradient‐echo gadolinium (Gd)‐enhanced MRA to measure BPC effects on arterial, venous, and soft‐tissue enhancement. Seven healthy volunteers (six men) were studied with the BPC applied at the mid‐femoral level unilaterally using a 1.5T MR system after intravenous injection of Gd‐BOPTA. Different statistical tools were used such as the Wilcoxon signed rank test and a cubic smoothing spline fit.

Results

We found that BPC application induces delayed venous filling (as previously described), but also induces significant decreases in arterial inflow, arterial enhancement, vascular‐soft tissue contrast, and delayed peak enhancement (which have not been previously measured).

Conclusion

The potential benefits from using a BPC for run‐off MRA must be balanced against the potential pitfalls, elucidated by our findings. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2009;29:1450–1456. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.