Toshiba America Medical Systems is promoting a new clinical study published this month on the use of a noncontrast MR angiography (MRA) technique in detecting renal artery stenosis.
Toshiba said that an international multicenter trial found that its time-spatial labeling inversion pulse (Time-SLIP) noncontrast-enhanced MRA technique performed as well as contrast-enhanced CT angiography (CTA) for detecting renal artery stenosis.
Published in the January issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology, the Renal Artery Contrast-Free Trial (REACT) reported that Time-SLIP had high sensitivity, specificity, and diagnostic accuracy; there also were no statistical differences between noncontrast MRA and CTA for visualizing renal artery stenosis, according to the vendor.
The trial included 75 patients at seven medical centers in the U.S., Spain, China, France, and Japan. All patients received noncontrast renal MRA using Toshiba's 1.5-tesla Vantage Atlas and Titan MR systems, in addition to CTA for evaluating renal artery stenosis. Dr. Timothy Albert of Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare System served as principal investigator.
