Xihai Zhao1,
Niranjan Balu2, Wenbo Liu2, Jinnan Wang3,
Huilin Zhao4, Jianrong Xu4, Chun Yuan1,2
We aimed to develop a non-invasive 1H MRS approach that enables in vivo quantification of plaque cholesteryl ester content. We performed in vivo measurements of early and advanced carotid atherosclerotic lesions in 49 subjects, and assessed reproducibility of the 1H MRS protocol. We observed a significant difference in the 2.0:1.2 ppm ratio between vessels without and with plaque, and between fibrous and complex plaque. Furthermore, the 2.0:1.2 ppm ratio showed good interscan reproducibility. Our study shows that plaque liquid cholesteryl ester content can be quantified non-invasively in vivo in human carotid artery plaques on a molecular level, using 1H MRS.
1Department of
Biomedical Engineering & Center for Biomedical Imaging Research, School
of Medicine, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, People's Republic of; 2Department
of Radiology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA; 3Philips
Research North America, Briarcliff Manor, NY, USA; 4Department of
Radiology, Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China,
People's Republic of
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