Abstract #2166

Sun B, Giddens D, Long Jr. R, Taylor R, Weiss D, Joseph G, Vega D, Oshinski J

Quantitative T2 and ADC values are valuable in characterizing atherosclerotic plaque components and in optimizing pulse sequences of multi-contrast MRI. In the present study, we evaluated the T2 and ADC values in typical coronary artery plaque constituents both before and after formalin preservation. The MR scans were conducted on freshly-excised coronary arteries under simulated in-vivo conditions by using a custom designed tissue culture chamber. Preserved scans were conducted on the same vessels after preserving them in formalin. T2 and ADC distributions of each plaque constituents were measured using the pixels that corresponding to the specific tissue type based on histological sections. The measured T2 values for all plaque constituents showed significant changes between fresh and preserved vessels.