Yonago Acta medica 1996;39:119–125
Comparison of Visualization of the Intrahepatic Portal Venous System by Two-Dimensional Time-of-Flight MR Angiography among Different Imaging Planes
Yuji Suto, Ken Yamamoto, Hiroyuki Fujiwara, Shuji Sugihara, Kotaro Yoshida and Yoshio Ohta
Department of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine, Tottori University, Yonago 683, Japan
The differences in visualization of the intrahepatic portal system among different imaging planes obtained by two-dimensional (2D)-time-of-flight (TOF) magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) was examined comparatively. Ten healthy volunteers were subjected to 2D-TOF-MRA of the entire liver from three directions -- sagittal, transverse and coronal -- during breath-holding using 2D-fast low angle shot sequences. Using the obtained consecutive image data, MRA was reconstructed by the maximum intensity projection algorithm. MRA was observed in a cine mode display, and visualization of each portal branch was classified into 3 groups: A, B and C (excellent, fair and poor, respectively). The visualization rate from the portal vein trunk to the segmental branches in the right lobe excluding the right anterior superior branch was highest on the sagittal section. The visualization rate of each branch in the left lobe was low as a whole on images taken from the 3 directions; a particularly low rate was found on the transverse images so all of these cases were classified into Group C. In conclusion, for visualizing from the portal vein trunk to the branches in the right hepatic lobe as a whole, the sagittal section was good, but visualization of branches in the left lobe was poor in all sections. Therefore, visualization of the entire intrahepatic portal system by the ordinary 2D-TOF technique appears to have limits.
Key words: liver; MR angiography; MR imaging; portal vein
