Victoria Young1, Andrew J. Patterson2, Umar Sadat3, Andrew N. Priest2, Robert van de Geest4, Martin J. Graves1, 2, Jonathan H. Gillard1
1Radiology, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom; 2Medical Physics and Engineering, Addenbrooke's Hopsital, Cambridge, United Kingdom; 3Vascular Surgery, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom; 4Radiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands
High resolution MRI is an option in the assessment of carotid atherosclerosis but there are limitations of unenhanced imaging in complex plaque and evaluation is subjective. DWI through ADC mapping has been applied both in vivo and ex vivo to quantitatively differentiate lipid core and fibrous tissue. This study evaluated a larger patient population to demonstate this separation could still be seen in a broad range of stenoses and to show plaque thrombus also demonstrated a different ADC value which varied with thrombus age. This evidence increases the value of ADC mappingin demonstrating vulnerable plaque characteristics.
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