A comparison of contrast-free MRA at 3.0T in cases of intracranial aneurysms with or without subarachnoid hemorrhage.

Purpose: To determine the diagnostic accuracy of contrast-free MRA at 3.0T for detection of intracranial aneurysms in patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage.

Methods: 411 patients (183 with SAH and 228 with non-SAH) underwent MRA. Accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive values (PPV), and negative predictive values (NPV) were measured and compared with DSA.

Results: Except for a slight difference in sensitivity in patient-based and aneurysm-based evaluations (P=0.037), there were no other significant differences in accuracy, specificity, PPV, and NPV.

Conclusion: VR 3D-TOF-MRA is a non-invasive approach with high accuracy in the diagnosis of intracranial aneurysms.