Abstract #3317

Independent Factors which Impact Image Quality in Carotid Vessel Wall Imaging: Implications for Multi-Center Studies

Jie Sun¹, Daniel S. Hippe¹, Hunter R. Underhill², Yan Song³, Nan Luo³, Min Chen³, Cheng Zhou³, Thomas S. Hatsukami⁴, Chun Yuan¹

¹Radiology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States; ²Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States; ³Radiology, Beijing Hospital, Beijing, China, People's Republic of; ⁴Surgery, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States

Inconsistent image quality across subjects and imaging centers remains one of the major technical problems for carotid vessel wall imaging. This study analyzed carotid MRI scans of 80 subjects collected from two imaging centers. One site was located in the U.S. and the other was in China. We have observed consistently better image quality from the latter site in our experience. The objective of our study was to identify patient characteristics associated with image quality. In addition, we further sought to uncover potential causes of image quality disparity between imaging sites.