Abstract #3684

Carotid Plaque Imaging with an Eight-Channel Transmit/Receive RF Array at 7 Tesla: First Results in Patients with Atherosclerosis.

Tobias Breyer^1,2, Oliver Kraff^1,2, Stefan Maderwald^1,2, Andreas Bitz^1,2, Stephan Orzada^1,2, Mark E. Ladd^1,2, Elke R. Gizewski^1,2, Harald H. Quick,²³

¹Institute of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology and Neuroradiology, University Hospital Essen, Essen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany; ²Erwin L. Hahn Institute for Magnetic Resonance Imaging, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany; ³Institute of Medical Physics, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nrnberg, Erlangen, Germany

Atherosclerosis is one leading cause of morbidity. In this study we implemented and adapted a plaque imaging protocol from 1.5 to 7 Tesla with use of a custom-built eight-channel transmit/receive RF array for the first time in human patients with hemodynamically relevant atherosclerosis. This approach allows for MR angiographic imaging without administration of gadolinium contrast comparable to contrast-enhanced MR angiography at lower field strengths. Plaque imaging at 7 Tesla requires different sequences compared to lower field strengths but allows a qualitatively comparable depiction of different intraplaque components, calcifications, vessel wall thickness and the luminal surface compared to lower field strenghts.