Venous reflux on contrast-enhanced head and neck magnetic resonance angiography: Analysis of causative factors

The purpose of this study was to analyze the causative factors of venous reflux on contrast-enhanced head and neck magnetic resonance angiography. We retrospectively reviewed 150 patients with right-arm injections and 150 patients with left-arm injections. We included the age, gender, body mass index, history of hypertension, and history of diabetes mellitus in the evaluation of all patients. We measured the shortest width of the left or right brachiocephalic vein (BCV), the diameter of the aortic arch, and the distance between the sternum and vertebral body. The relationship between these factors and the venous reflux was analyzed. In patients with venous reflux, we performed qualitative image scoring for suboptimal images. In patients with venous reflux, the image quality of the left-arm injection group was significantly inferior to the image quality of the right-arm injection group. The mean age and the male-to-female ratio of patients with venous reflux were significantly higher than those of patients without venous reflux. In patients receiving the left-arm injection, the mean shortest width of the left BCV was significantly narrower in patients with venous reflux than in patients without venous reflux. A left-arm injection should be avoided, especially in elderly patients, to acquire an optimal image