Improved T2* Estimation Technique in Human Carotid Arteries

Travis Patrick Sharkey-Toppen¹, Bradley Dean Clymer¹, Andrei Maiseyeu¹, Tam Tran¹, Georgeta Mihai¹, Subha V. Raman¹

Atherosclerosis is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. It has been shown that iron may play a significant role in the development of plaque. Quantification of iron via T2* is complicated in small vessels such as the carotids due to their limited size, motion and flow artifacts. Evaluation of a new T2* estimation technique which utilizes WLSE and outlier detection is shown to lower the effect of noise and increase reproducibility in small vessels.