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Abstract #2264

Characterization of Carotid Plaque in-Vivo and ex-Vivo Using MRI, CTA and Histology

Maria Rosario Lopez Gonzalez1, William Matthew Holmes2, William Stewart3, Keith W. Muir4, Barrie Condon, George Welch5, Kirsten Forbes

1SINAPSE, Clinical Physics, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom; 2GEMRIC, Wellcome Surgical Institute, Faculty of Medicine, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom; 3Department of Neuropathology, Institute of Neurological Sciences, Southern General Hospital, Glasgow, United Kingdom; 4Division of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom; 5Vascular surgery, Southern General Hospital, Glasgow, United Kingdom


In-vivo 3T MR and CTA images were acquired of symptomatic stroke patients. These images show that most of the patients presented high degrees of atherosclerotic carotid plaque. To help to identify unstable and vulnerable plaques, segmentation of the different plaque components was carried out by using a semiautomatic thresholding method. Half of the patients underwent surgical excision of the carotid plaque. The specimens obtained were imaged in a 7T scanner. The specimens were sectioned and stained with heamatoxylin-eosin and Elastin van Gieson. Correlation of the MRI datasets and Histology was carried out.