Meeting Banner
Abstract #3470

Imaging uptake of plasma macromolecules in the arterial wall

Marta Dazzi1, René Botnar2, and Peter Weinberg1

1Department of Bioengineering, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom, 2Biomedical Engineering, King's College London, London, United Kingdom

Elevated endothelial permeability is a precursor to atherosclerosis. Imaging macromolecule uptake in the artery wall can be used to detect and investigate early structural and functional endothelial dysfunction. Current techniques make use of destructive post-mortem analysis of tissue, limiting studies to animal models only. MR imaging of the transport of an albumin-binding contrast agent (Gadofosveset) could be used instead. We employed a mathematical model to differentiate between the bound and unbound fraction of the contrast agent thus making this method a promising non-invasive technique to measure permeability in humans for the first time.

This abstract and the presentation materials are available to members only; a login is required.

Join Here