FRACTURE-Angiography: simultaneous acquisition of bone imaging and angiography

Motivation: In preoperative cervical spine assessment, precise visualization of the vertebral artery (VA) course is of paramount importance. We present a new sequence called FRACTURE-Angiography. Goal(s): The purpose is to evaluate the clinical applicability of FRACTURE-Angiography compared to FRACTURE and TOF-MRA. Approach: Both quantitative and qualitative evaluations were performed. In the quantitative evaluations, we assessed the depiction ability of the VA and bone tissue based on the contrast ratio with background tissue. The qualitative evaluations for 3D-fusion images were conducted from the perspectives of bone morphology and VA course. Results: FRACTURE-Angiography could image arterial signals and bone morphology simultaneously and satisfy clinical requirements. Impact: FRACTURE-Angiography allows simultaneous acquisition of bone tissue and arterial images in a single imaging session. As a result, it has the advantage of shortening scan time and minimizing the gap between scans.