Basi-parallel anatomic scanning (BPAS-MRI) compared with high-resolution MRI for the diagnosis of vertebrobasilar artery abnormalities.

Objective: To investigate the utility of basi-parallel anatomic scanning magnetic resonance imaging (BPAS-MRI) for the diagnosis of vertebrobasilar artery lesions.

Methods: From October 2017-November 2018, 105 consecutive patients with abnormal configuration of the vertebrobasilar artery on time-of-flight magnetic resonance angiography (TOF-MRA) were enrolled. Conventional high-resolution MRI combined with TOF-MRA were performed to diagnose lesions and were used as the standard for sensitivity and specificity determination. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and accuracy of BPAS-MRI combined with TOF-MRA were calculated. The consistencies between the two methods were evaluated by kappa test.

Results: Of the 105 patients, 45 were diagnosed with arteriosclerosis, 46 with vertebral artery dysplasia, 11 with artery dissection or dissecting aneurysm, and 3 as simple dilatation. Results Compared with conventional high-resolution MRI combined with TOF-MRA, for vertebrobasilar arteriosclerosis, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and accuracy of BPAS-MRI combined with TOF-MRA were 95.6 %, 95.0 %, 93.5 %, 96.6 % and 95.2 %, respectively and kappa value was 0.903. For vertebral artery dysplasia, they were 100 %, 96.6 %, 95.8 %, 100 %, and 98.1 %, respectively and kappa value was 0.961. For vertebrobasilar artery dissection or dissection aneurysm, they were 81.8 %, 96.8 %, 97.8 %, 75.0 % and 95.2 %, respectively and kappa value was 0.756.

Conclusions: BPAS-MRI can show the outer contour of the vertebrobasilar artery system. Combined with TOF-MRA, it may be used to differentiate among vertebrobasilar artery abnormalities, and be used in hospitals where conventional high-resolution MRI is not feasible.