Time-Resolved Spinal MR Angiography: Initial Clinical Experience in the Evaluation of Spinal ORIGINAL RESEARCH Arteriovenous Shunts S. Ali BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Spinal arteriovenous shunts usually require digital subtraction angiog- raphy (DSA) for evaluation. We report a unique time-resolved spinal MR angiographic (TRSMRA) T.A. Cashen technique with a temporal resolution of 3–6 seconds and spatial resolution of approximately 1 mm T.J. Carroll that has the potential to noninvasively detect, localize, and follow-up these cases. E. McComb MATERIALS AND METHODS: Eleven patients with clinical presentation and/or MR findings suspicious M. Muzaffar for a spinal arteriovenous shunt were referred for TRSMRA. Patients subsequently underwent spinal A. Shaibani DSA to confirm the presence or absence of a shunt or were followed clinically until an alternative M.T. Walker diagnosis was found. TRSMRA was also used to predict the level of the shunt in the positive cases. In addition, 2 of these patients as well as a 12th patient referred to us posttreatment received a follow-up TRSMRA to assess treatment outcome. RESULTS: Early venous shunting was identified by using TRSMRA in 6 cases. All 6 were confirmed to have an AV shunt on subsequent spinal DSA. The shunt level predicted by TRSMRA consistently correlated with DSA to within 1 vertebral level. In the 5 patients with a negative screening TRSMRA, DSA or clinical outcome confirmed the absence of an arteriovenous shunt in all of the cases. Posttreatment TRSMRA in 3 patients accurately assessed the success or failure of treatment. CONCLUSION: Combining acceleration techniques to achieve high...