Subacute clot mimicking flow in a thrombosed arterial bypass graft on two-dimensional time-of-flight and three-dimensional contrast-enhanced MRA.

Subacute intravascular thrombus can contain methemoglobin, which results in very short spin-lattice (T1) relaxation times. We describe a case of a 78-year-old man with increasing right lower extremity claudication. The patient had a thrombosed arterial bypass graft showing high signal intensity that mimicked flow on both two-dimensional time-of-flight and three-dimensional contrast-enhanced MR angiography. Misinterpretation of the high signal thrombus as flowing blood can be avoided by obtaining a precontrast T1-weighted sequence.