Cerebral blood flow volume measurements of the carotid artery and ipsilateral branches using two-dimensional phase-contrast magnetic resonance angiography

The optimal velocity encoding of phase-contrast magnetic resonance angiography (PC MRA) in measuring cerebral blood flow volume (BFV) ranges from 60 to 80 cm/s. To verify the accuracy of two-dimensional (2D) PC MRA, the present study localized the region of interest at blood vessels of the neck using PC MRA based on three-dimensional time-of-flight sequences, and the velocity encoding was set to 80 cm/s. Results of the measurements showed that the error rate was 7.0 +/- 6.0% in the estimation of BFV in the internal carotid artery, the external carotid artery and the ipsilateral common carotid artery. There was no significant difference, and a significant correlation in BFV between internal carotid artery + external carotid artery and ipsilateral common carotid artery. In addition, the BFV of the common carotid artery was correlated with that of the ipsilateral internal carotid artery. The main error was attributed to the external carotid artery and its branches. Therefore, after selecting the appropriate scanning parameters and protocols, 2D PC MRA is more accurate in the determination of BFV in the carotid arteries.