Joseph Scott McNally1, Seong-Eun Kim2,
John Roberts2, Daniel Nightingale3, Laura K. Findeiss,
Gerald S. Treiman4, Dennis L. Parker2
1Radiology, University of Utah, Salt
Lake City, UT, United States; 2UCAIR, University of Utah; 3Pathology,
VA Salt Lake City Health Care System; 4Surgery, VA Salt Lake City
Health Care System
Plaque
hemorrhage may discriminate an unstable plaque from a more stable lesion.
Patients scheduled for carotid endarterectomy underwent MR imaging with 3D
MPRAGE (Magnetization-prepared rapid acquisition with gradient-echo), 3D TOF,
2D DIR T1 and T2 sequences. After
carotid endarterectomy, plaque components were identified. MPRAGE hyperintensity correlates with
hemorrhage on histology. Variable ages
of blood products were detected by the MPRAGE sequence, ranging from recent
to remote. Hemorrhage was
discriminated from lipid, necrosis, collagen, and calcification using the
MPRAGE sequence. This sequence may
play an important role in determining which patients benefit from medical
management as opposed to surgical intervention.
Keywords