Ks. Wildy et al., ATHEROSCLEROSIS OF THE CAROTID-ARTERY - EVALUATION BY MAGNETIC-RESONANCE ANGIOGRAPHY, Journal of magnetic resonance imaging, 6(5), 1996, pp. 726-732
Carotid artery atherosclerotic plaques (APs) can lead to brain ischemi
a, an event shown to correlate with both the degree of stenosis and th
e composition of the AP. Currently, accurate estimates of stenosis can
be obtained by either x-ray angiography or three-dimensional time-of-
flight (TOF) magnetic resonance angiography (MRA). Our purpose was to
determine whether three-dimensional TOF MRA images could also provide
information on plaque location, morphology, and composition. Seven pre
-endarterectomy patients underwent three-dimensional TOF MRA. After en
darterectomy, plaque histology was evaluated, Three-dimensional TOF MR
A images contained sufficient soft tissue contrast to differentiate th
e plaques from the surrounding tissues in all cases. Estimation of pla
que morphology had 80% correlation with histology, finally, intraplaqu
e hemorrhage and calcification were depicted as regions of moderately
high and very low intensity, respectively, These preliminary results s
uggest that three-dimensional TOF MRA may be useful in studying the de
velopment and progression of carotid atherosclerosis.