Phase-Contrast Angiography

ARDIANSYAH
H021171017
Phase-contrast (PC) angiography is another bright blood technique and relies on the use of
bipolar (flow-encoding) gradients. By selecting the polarity and amplitude of the gradient, t
he operator can determine the flow direction and the range of flow velocities to which the s
equence is sensitive. This technique enables calculation of averaged flow velocities for all vo
xels imaged.
Diagram of a PC MRA sequence
 Delivery of a bipolar gradient pulse and the resulting phase shifts

induced

in stationary spins (a, ∆φa= 0), spins slowly flowing in the direction

of the gradient

field (b, ∆φb> 0), spins rapidly flowing in the direction of the

gradient field

(c, ∆φc> ∆φb), and spins rapidly flowing in the opposite direction (d,

∆φd= –∆φc).

In a phase-contrast image, the gray scale value of a pixel represents

the averaged

difference angle, ∆φ, measured in the corresponding voxel

Advantages of the phase-contrast technique include the
quantitative and spatially resolved evaluation of flow velocities and
flow directions and the good suppression of the signal from
stationary tissue. With proper parameter settings, phase-contrast
MR angiography is most suitable for depicting slow flow or flow
within the imaging slice. No other MR technique provides the kind of
quantitative information that can be derived from the time-resolved
velocity and flow profiles obtained with cine phase-contrast
angiography for different phases of the cardiac cycle.
Thank you