Accreditation Support

MRA Abdomen for Renal Artery Stenosis or Vasculitis

Required Sequences

Category A: 

Pulse Sequence and Image Contrast

Category B: 

Anatomic Coverage and Imaging Planes

Category C: 

Spatial Resolution

3D contrast-enhanced source images or 3D non-contrast MRA renal images

• Must have good artery to background contrast

• Must have minimal to no venous enhancement

• Must have correct bolus timing if contrast-enhanced

• Inflow-enhanced (SFFP)e.g.Inhance Suite (GE) NATIVE (Siemens), TRANCE or B-TRANCE (Philips), Time-SLIP, Time Space Angiography or TSA (Toshiba), VASC-ASL (Hitachi) sequences may replace gadolinium-enhanced sequences

Must cover:

• Origin of celiac artery

• Origin of superior mesenteric artery (SMA)

• Right and left renal arteries to the branching in the renal hilum with no motion blurring

• Slice thickness ≤ 3.0 mm

• Reconstructed slice interval ≤ 1.5 mm

• Voxel volume ≤ 6.0 mm3

3D reformatted images (Angiographic Images)

• Must have good artery to background contrast

Must display:

• Origin of celiac artery

• Origin of superior mesenteric artery (SMA)

• Right and left renal arteries

N/A

MRA High Resolution Arch/Carotid Contrast-Enhanced

1. Dynamic phases 
2. Source images only from peak carotid enhancement phase

Required Sequences

Category A: 

Pulse Sequence and Image Contrast

Category B: 

Anatomic Coverage and Imaging Planes

Category C: 

Spatial Resolution

3D contrast-enhanced source images 

• Must have good artery to background contrast

• Must have uniform artery signal/ minimal to no intra-voxel phase dispersion

• Must have minimal to no venous enhancement

• Must have correct bolus timing

• Inflow-enhanced (SFFP) e.g. Inhance Suite (GE), NATIVE (Siemens), TRANCE or B-TRANCE (Philips), Time-SLIP, Time Space Angiography or TSA (Toshiba), VASC-ASL (Hitachi) sequences may replace gadolinium-enhanced sequences

Must cover:

• Aortic arch

• Innominate artery

• Right and left common carotid artery

• Right and left carotid bifurcation

• Right and left subclavian arteries 2 cm distal to the vertebral origins

• Right and left vertebral arteries

• Basilar artery

• Circle of Willis

• Slice thickness ≤ 2.0 mm

• Reconstructed slice interval ≤ 1.0 mm

• Reconstructed slice interval should be 50 % of the acquired slice thickness

• Voxel volume ≤ 3.0 mm3

Reformatted contrast-enhanced angiographic images

• Must have good artery to background contrast

• Must have uniform artery signal

• Must have minimal to no venous enhancement

Must display in multiple views and should be derived from the contrast MRA sequence:

• Aortic arch

• Innominate artery

• Right and left common carotid artery

• Right and left carotid bifurcation (each must be displayed in separate MIP reconstructions)

• Right and left subclavian arteries 2 cm distal to the vertebral origins

• Right and left vertebral arteries

• Basilar artery

• Circle of Willis

N/A

MRA Carotid Unenhanced

Required Sequences

Category A: 

Pulse Sequence and Image Contrast

Category B: 

Anatomic Coverage and Imaging Planes

Category C: 

Spatial Resolution

3D time of flight source images

• Must have good artery to background contrast

• Must have uniform artery signal

• Must have minimal to no venous signal

• A Hi-quality non-contrast MRA includes balanced steady state free precession and arterial spin labeling techniques and may replace 3D time of flight;   e.g. NATIVE (Siemens), Inhance Suite (GE), TRANCE or B- TRANCE (Philips), Time-SLIP or Time Space Angiography (Toshiba), VASC-ASL (Hitachi)

Must cover:

• 2 cm of the right & left common carotid arteries

• 3 cm of the right & left internal carotid arteries

• 2 cm of the right & left external carotid arteries

• Slice thickness ≤ 1.6 mm

• Voxel volume ≤ 1.7 mm3
  
  

3D time of flight reformatted images (angiographic images)

• Must have good artery to background contrast

• Must have uniform artery signal

• Must have minimal to no venous signal

• Must display in multiple views:

  • 2 cm of the right & left common carotid arteries

  • 3 cm of the right & left internal carotid arteries

  • 2 cm of the right & left external carotid arteries

• Must show adequate segmentation of carotid arteries such that each artery segment is visible in multiple views with no overlap from other vessels

• The right & left carotid should be segmented separately

N/A

2D time of flight multi-slab source images

• Must have good artery to background contrast

• Must have uniform artery signal

• Must have minimal to no venous signal

Must cover:

• 4 cm of the right & left common carotid arteries

• right & left internal carotid arteries to the petrous bone

• right & left external carotid arteries

• right & left vertebral arteries

• Slice thickness ≤ 2.0 mm

• Gap ≤ 0 mm

• Pixel area ≤ 1.1 mm²

2D time of flight reformatted images (angiographic images)

• Must have good artery to background contrast

• Must have uniform artery signal

• Must have minimal to no venous signal

• Must display in multiple views:

  • 4 cm of the right & left common carotid arteries

  • right & left internal carotid arteries to the petrous bone

  • right & left external carotid arteries

  • right & left vertebral arteries

• Must show adequate segmentation of carotid arteries such that each artery segment is visible in multiple views with no overlap from other vessels

• The right & left carotid should be segmented separately

MRA Thoracic Aorta

Required Sequences

Category A: 

Pulse Sequence and Image Contrast

Category B: 

Anatomic Coverage and Imaging Planes

Category C: 

Spatial Resolution

Non-contrast black or bright blood source images

• Must have good artery to background contrast

• Must have uniform artery signal

• Must have minimal to no venous signal

Must cover:

• 2 cm of the origins of the arch vessels

• Entire thoracic aorta from the aortic annulus to the diaphragmatic hiatus

• Slice thickness ≤ 7.0 mm

• Gap ≤ 1.5 mm

• Pixel area ≤ 3.0 mm²

3D contrast enhanced source images

• Must have good artery to background contrast

• Must have uniform artery signal

• Must have minimal to no venous enhancement

• Must have correct bolus timing

Must cover:

• 2 cm of the origins of the arch vessels

• Entire thoracic aorta from the aortic annulus to the diaphragmatic hiatus

• Slice thickness ≤ 3.4 mm

• Reconstructed slice interval ≤ 1.7 mm

• Voxel volume ≤ 20.0 mm3

3D contrast enhanced reformatted images (angiographic images)

• Must have good artery to background contrast

• Must have uniform artery signal

• Must have minimal to no venous enhancement

Must display in multiple views:

• 2 cm of the origins of the arch vessels

• Entire thoracic aorta from the aortic annulus to the diaphragmatic hiatus

N/A

Revision History for this Article

Date

Section

Description of Revision(s)

12-12-19

All

Article created; FAQs incorporated; No criteria changes