Abstract #0560

Greve J, Sho E, Tedesco M, Terashima M, McConnell M, Dalman R, Hedehus M, Conolly S, Taylor C, Cunningham C

Inflammation may play a role in abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) disease. Visualizing inflammation using MRI is possible by administering certain USPIOs. We assessed the potential of using ferumoxtran-10 to visualize vessel wall inflammation in a rat model of AAA using gradient echo (GE) techniques and off-resonance (OR) techniques that exploit field inhomogeneity near iron particles. There was good correspondence between the methods. The majority of signal was derived from spleen and lymph nodes. This is one of the first studies to extend OR methods beyond proof-of-concept. The technique is reproducible, provides high-throughput, and is specific to the USPIO induced inhomogeneities.