Anja G. van der Kolk1,
Jeroen Hendrikse1, Manon Brundel2, Geert Jan Biessels2,
Ewoud J. Smit1, Fredy Visser1, 3, Peter R.
Luijten1, Jaco J.M. Zwanenburg1, 4
1Department
of Radiology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands; 2Department
of Neurology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands; 3Philips
Healthcare, Best, Netherlands; 4Image Sciences Institute,
University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands
Intracranial atherosclerosis is an important cause of ischemic stroke. Imaging techniques depicting the intracranial arterial vessel wall and its pathology are therefore important, like the Magnetization-Preparation Inversion Recovery (MPIR)-TSE sequence at 7.0 Tesla MRI. However, this sequence has small coverage, limiting assessment of peripheral arteries. In this study we adapted the MPIR-TSE sequence to obtain whole-brain coverage, with different contrasts weightings. These new sequences were able to depict vessel walls throughout the brain, at a level of detail almost equal to the limited-coverage sequence, and can be used both in future studies regarding intracranial arterial pathology, and in clinical practice.
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