High-resolution compressed-sensing time-of-flight MRA in a case of acute ICA/MCA dissection

Abstract

Purpose Acute, isolated intracranial dissection (ICD) represents a rare and challenging cause of acute stroke. DSA is considered to be the gold standard imaging modality in patients with ICD. The role of novel, high-resolution (HR) compressed-sensing (CS) time-of-flight (TOF) MRA techniques in ICDs is unclear. Methods A 22-year-old male patient with an isolated right ICA/MCA intracranial dissection underwent "conventional" 3-T TOF MRA, HR CS TOF MRA and also DSA including digital rotational angiography. Results Unlike the "conventional" TOF MRA, HR CS TOF MRA provided comparable image quality to rotational angiography and a dissection membrane was clearly visible in both techniques. Conclusion In this single case study, we demonstrated the feasibility of a novel HR CS TOF in a case of an acute isolated intracranial ICA/MCA dissection, which needs to be validated in a larger case series.