Hepatobiliary/GI Clinical Protocols: Routine Pancreas & Biliary MR














New York University School of Medicine Department of Radiology
Suggestions/Comments

Hepatobiliary/GI Clinical Protocols

Routine MRCP with Contrast (*)

Last updated: 12/3/2002

The patients should fast four hours prior to the study.

Phased array coil centered over liver.

Assess the patient’s breath holding capability. If poor capability, give oxygen. If the patient can’t hold his/her breath call body radiologist.

Run sequences in the order listed.

Sequence	Plane	Comment	Film #
HASTE	Cor	No fat sat. 4 mm slices	2
HASTE	Ax	Run concatenated. No fat sat. 4 mm slices.	1
3D PACE	Cor or obl	Coronal usually better. If need to, slightly oblique due to patient’s body habitus.	1
Thick Slab	Cor	Straight Use 2 posterior sat bands for all thick slabs. (Try to get FOV ~ 250)	1
Thick Slab	Obl	30° to the right (Try to get FOV ~ 250)	1
Thick Slab	Obl	30° to the left (Try to get FOV ~ 250)	1
STIR	Ax	Run concatenated. If bad ghosting, run Ax HASTE with fat sat (8mm 0.2 gap)	2
T1 in/out	Ax	cover entire liver	2,1
VIBE	Ax	Try to get effective thickness 2mm. Include entire liver and pancreas in FOV. Use FOV as small as possible. If >375 needed call MD.	0
Timing Run	Ax
VIBE	Ax	3 measures (0, 60, 180 sec)
optional VIBE	Ax	4^th measure (10 min delayed) if history of cholangiocarcinoma

(*) The use of gadolinium contrast material for these applications represents off-label usage in the U.S. Outside the U.S., please consult your country's regulations for local guidelines.

NOTE: These protocols apply to Siemens Symphony (with Quantum gradients) and Sonata systems. While they reflect the protocols used at NYU Medical Center, NYU is not responsible for their application elsewhere.