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Abstract #3684

Carotid Plaque Imaging with an Eight-Channel Transmit/Receive RF Array at 7 Tesla: First Results in Patients with Atherosclerosis.

Tobias Breyer1,2, Oliver Kraff1,2, Stefan Maderwald1,2, Andreas Bitz1,2, Stephan Orzada1,2, Mark E. Ladd1,2, Elke R. Gizewski1,2, Harald H. Quick, 23

1Institute of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology and Neuroradiology, University Hospital Essen, Essen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany; 2Erwin L. Hahn Institute for Magnetic Resonance Imaging, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany; 3Institute of Medical Physics, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nrnberg, Erlangen, Germany


Atherosclerosis is one leading cause of morbidity. In this study we implemented and adapted a plaque imaging protocol from 1.5 to 7 Tesla with use of a custom-built eight-channel transmit/receive RF array for the first time in human patients with hemodynamically relevant atherosclerosis. This approach allows for MR angiographic imaging without administration of gadolinium contrast comparable to contrast-enhanced MR angiography at lower field strengths. Plaque imaging at 7 Tesla requires different sequences compared to lower field strengths but allows a qualitatively comparable depiction of different intraplaque components, calcifications, vessel wall thickness and the luminal surface compared to lower field strenghts.