158 A contrast dose reduction study for 3D high spatial resolution contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance angiography of supra-aortic arteries at 3.0 Tesla

Introduction Recent advances in contrast-enhanced MR angiography (CE-MRA) at 3.0 T support highly accelerated parallel acquisition for improved pulse sequence performance. In clinical practice, CE-MRA of the supra-aortic arteries is performed using 0.1–0.2 mmol/kg of gadolinium. Historically, this has been a very uncontroversial area, in view of the excellent safety record of gadolinium contrast agents and the assumed correlation between image quality and contrast dose. However, recent reports linking gadolinium-based contrast agents with nephrogenic systemic fibrosis (NSF) in renal failure patients has focused attention on the importance of minimizing dose and (by implication) risk in vulnerable patient subgroups.