This summer, I had the privilege of working at the Houston Methodist DeBakey Heart and Vascular Center under Dr. Trisha L. Roy, and the mentorship of Dr. Bright Benfor and Dr. Alexander B. Crichton. Our project evaluated whether the preoperative use of magnetic resonance angiography (MRA), compared to the current gold-standard digital subtraction angiography (DSA), positively impacts long-term clinical outcomes in patients with chronic limb-threatening ischemia (CLTI), a severe form of peripheral artery disease that can lead to amputation.

We conducted a retrospective analysis of 196 patients treated over a two-year period at Houston Methodist, and found that patients who underwent preoperative MRA were significantly more likely to be offered revascularization procedures than those evaluated with DSA alone, likely because MRA was better able to detect patent tibial arteries that DSA missed. These findings suggest MRA may help identify additional treatment opportunities for CLTI patients who might otherwise be considered as “no option” patients by expanding options for vascular surgeons to perform limb-saving procedures.