Fig 1.
Typical images of intracranial perforators from different patients, obtained by postcontrast TOF-MRA at 7T.
(A) A medial lenticulostriate artery (arrowhead), arising from the A1 segment of the ACA (transverse slab MIP, thickness 10mm), (B) lateral lenticulostriate arteries arising from the right MCA (arrows) and medial lenticulostriate arteries arising from the left ACA (arrowheads; coronal slab MIP, thickness 10 mm), (C) artery of Percheron (arrowheads), arising from the P1 segment of the PCA (coronal slab MIP, thickness 10mm), (D) perforating branch (arrowheads) arising from the right AChA (sagittal slab MIP, thickness 10mm), (E) thalamoperforating artery (arrowhead), arising from the left PCoA (transverse slab MIP, thickness 6mm), (F) pontine arteries (arrowheads) arising from the BA (transverse slab MIP, thickness 4mm), and (G) the intracranial feeders of the anterior spinal artery (arrows) with an adjacent vein (dashed arrow, transverse slab MIP angulated anterior-posterior in line with the BA, thickness 10mm). ACA = anterior cerebral artery; AChA = anterior choroidal artery; BA = basilar artery; ICA = intracranial carotid artery; MCA = middle cerebral artery; MIP = maximum intensity projection; PCA = posterior cerebral artery; PCoA = posterior communicating artery; P1 = first segment of the PCA; VA = vertebral artery.
Table 1.
Overview of the number of perforating arteries branching off from the circle of Willis and proximal intracranial arteries identified in the individual postcontrast TOF-MRA scans (1–10).
Table 2.
Mean number and range of perforating branches per parent artery identified in the 7T postcontrast TOF-MRA images.
Fig 2.
7T TOF-MRA, coronal slab MIP images (thickness 10mm) of the perforating arteries arising from the left MCA before (A) and after (B) contrast administration.
In B, the effect of venous enhancement (arrows) can be appreciated, making differentiation between small arteries and veins more difficult. MCA = middle cerebral artery; MIP = maximum intensity projection.
Fig 3.
7T TOF-MRA MIP images of different intracranial perforating arteries.
On the left (A,C,E) the precontrast images with the corresponding postcontrast images of the same patient on the right (B,D,F). In B, D and F, longer arterial trajectories can be seen after contrast administration as compared to the corresponding unenhanced image in A, C and E (white boxes). (A and B) Sagittal slab MIP, thickness 10mm; (B and C) sagittal slab MIP, thickness 10mm; (E and F) coronal slab MIP, thickness 10mm. MIP = maximum intensity projection.