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Updated: Jul 16, 2026

Phase Contrast Magnetic Resonance Imaging in the Rat Common Carotid Artery
Published on: September 5, 2018
Three-dimensional black-blood MR imaging of carotid arteries with segmented steady-state free precession: initial
Ioannis Koktzoglou1, Yiu-Cho Chung, Timothy J Carroll
1Department of Radiology, Division of Vascular Surgery, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL 60611, USA. ioannis.koktzoglou@gmail.com
Abstract:
This HIPAA-compliant study had institutional review board approval. Informed consent was obtained. The purpose was to prospectively evaluate a segmented three-dimensional (3D) double inversion recovery (DIR)-prepared steady-state free precession (SSFP) magnetic resonance (MR) imaging sequence for fast high-spatial-resolution black-blood carotid arterial wall imaging. Carotid wall-lumen contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) obtained with this sequence was compared with those obtained with two-dimensional (2D) single- and multisection black-blood fast spin-echo (SE) sequences. MR imaging of both carotid artery bifurcations over 3 cm of transverse coverage was performed in eight volunteers (seven men, one woman; age range, 26-56 years) with no known history of carotid artery disease. Adjusted for section thickness and imaging time per section, higher effective mean CNR was achieved with segmented 3D DIR-prepared SSFP than with single-section 2D DIR-prepared fast SE or multisection 2D saturation-band fast SE (P < .05). Segmented 3D DIR-prepared SSFP enables black-blood carotid arterial wall MR imaging with contiguous thin-section coverage and greater imaging speed and effective CNR than conventional 2D fast SE techniques.
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