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Carotid artery atherosclerosis: in vivo morphologic characterization with gadolinium-enhanced double-oblique MR
Bruce A Wasserman1, William I Smith, Hugh H Trout
1Department of Radiology, Neuroradiology Division, Johns Hopkins Hospital, 600 N Wolfe St, Phipps B-100, Baltimore, MD 21287-2182, USA. bwasser@rad.jhu.edu
Abstract:
In nine subjects with carotid atherosclerosis, double-oblique, contrast material-enhanced, double inversion-recovery, fast spin-echo magnetic resonance (MR) images were acquired through atheroma in the proximal internal carotid artery. Fibrocellular tissue within atheroma selectively enhanced 29% after administration of gadolinium-based contrast agent. Contrast enhancement helped discriminate fibrous cap from lipid core with a contrast-to-noise ratio as good as or better than that with T2-weighted MR images but with approximately twice the signal-to-noise ratio (postcontrast images, 36.6 +/- 3.6; T2-weighted images, 17.5 +/- 2.1; P <.001).