Clinical usefulness of half-dose gadolinium-enhanced MR angiography of portal venous system (MR portography) - Combined use with conventional dynamic MR imaging

The clinical usefulness of half-dose Gadolinium-enhanced MR portography combined with the conventional full-dose dynamic MR imaging was evaluated on normal volunteers and patients. Half-dose MR portography was performed immediately following conventional full-dose Gdenhanced dynamic MR imaging. The visualization of the extrahepatic portal system was either good or excellent in most cases excluding the splenic vein which was poor in 20.7%. That of the right and left main portal branches was also excellent. As for segmental branches, the visualization was poor of the left lobe. The comparison with digital subtraction angiography showed that the visualization of the right and left main portal branches was mostly equal. That of the splenic vein alone was worse on MR portography. We conclude that half-dose Gadolinium-enhanced MR portography is useful for the overall assessment of the portal venous system and can be added to the conventional dynamic MR imaging.