Radiology, Vol 193, 219-226, Copyright © 1994 by Radiological Society of North America

ARTICLES

Measurement of internal carotid artery stenosis from source MR angiograms

CM Anderson, RE Lee, DL Levin, S de la Torre Alonso and D Saloner
Section of Radiology (114D), Veteran Affairs Medical Center, San Francisco, CA 94121.

PURPOSE: To determine whether interpretation of internal carotid artery (ICA) stenosis from source partitions is more accurate than interpretation from maximum-intensity projections (MIPs) from three- dimensional (3D) time-of-flight (TOF) magnetic resonance (MR) angiography. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The percentage of diameter ICA stenosis was measured on source images and MIPs from sagittal (n = 150) and transverse (n = 140) 3D TOF MR angiography. Measurements were compared with those from conventional angiography. RESULTS: Sensitivity and specificity for distinguishing 70%-99% stenosis were 96% and 78%, respectively, for sagittal MIPs, 88% and 90% for sagittal source images, 92% and 86% for transverse MIPs, and 92% and 95% for transverse source images. Areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves statistically significantly increased (P < .05) with interpretation from source images. Complete loss of intravascular signal was not encountered on source partitions except within a greater than 85% stenosis. CONCLUSION: Interpretation of source partitions rather than MIPs reduces the tendency for overestimation of stenosis with MR angiography and improves the specificity for discriminating 70%-99% stenosis.

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