Xihai Zhao1, Jianming Cai2, Hunter Underhill1, Minako Oikawa1, Li Dong1, Hideki Ota1, Thomas Hatsukami3, Chun Yuan1
1Department of Radiology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA; 2Department of Radiology, PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China; 3Department of Surgery, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
Multi-sequence MR imaging (TOF, T1W, PDW, and T2W) has been shown noninvasively characterizing carotid atherosclerosis. Although the use of these multiple contrast weightings can evaluate a spectrum of plaque features, each contrast weighting requires additional scan time and adds to the time required for image analysis. To minimize MR contrast weightings for the comprehensive evaluation of carotid atherosclerosis is potentially capable of reduce the scan time and cost. This study compared three MR contrast weighting combinations in evaluating carotid plaque features. The results showed that comprehensive carotid plaque interpretation can be performed with T1W, CE-T1W, and TOF sequences.
Keywords