Carotid Plaque Imaging with BLADE and SPACE

Masahiro Ida¹, Kenji Saitoh¹, Shunsuke Sugawara¹, Yuko Kubo¹, Keiko Hino¹, Naoya Yorozu¹

BLADE is a self-navigating method for motion correction by repeated acquisition of the center of k-space. BLADE reduces physiological motion artifact. SPACE is based on 3D fast SE sequence with high turbo-factor and exploits refocusing pulses with variable flip-angle. This study attempts to estimate clinical utilities of BLADE and 3D SPACE for the evaluation of carotid plaques. BLADE sequences without cardiac gating are feasible for detecting not only atherosclerotic plaque but also the neighboring turbulent flow. Multi-slice BLADE sequences and 3D SPACE are useful methods and the initial sequences of choice for screening of carotid plaque and its risk factors.