Department of Medical, The General Hospital of Chinese People's Armed Police Forces, Beijing 100039, China.
Korean J Radiol. 2013 Jul-Aug;14(4):581-8. doi: 10.3348/kjr.2013.14.4.581. Epub 2013 Jul 17.
To optimize the MR imaging protocol for coronary arterial wall depiction in vitro and characterize the coronary atherosclerotic plaques.
MRI examination was prospectively performed in ten porcine hearts in order to optimize the MR imaging protocol. Various surface coils were used for coronary arterial wall imaging with the same parameters. Then, the image parameters were further optimized for high-resolution coronary wall imaging. The signal-noise ratio (SNR) and contrast-noise ratio (CNR) of images were measured. Finally, 8 human cadaver hearts with coronary atherosclerotic plaques were prospectively performed with MRI examination using optimized protocol in order to characterize the coronary atherosclerotic plaques.
The SNR and CNR of MR image with temporomandibular coil were the highest of various surface coils. High-resolution and high SNR and CNR for ex vivo coronary artery wall depiction can be achieved using temporomandibular coil with 512 × 512 in matrix. Compared with histopathology, the sensitivity and specificity of MRI for identifying advanced plaques were: type IV-V (lipid, necrosis, fibrosis), 94% and 95%; type VI (hemorrhage), 100% and 98%; type VII (calcification), 91% and 100%; and type VIII (fibrosis without lipid core), 100% and 98%, respectively.
Temporomandibular coil appears to be dramatically superior to eight-channel head coil and knee coil for ex vivo coronary artery wall imaging, providing higher spatial resolution and improved the SNR. Ex vivo high-resolution MRI has capability to distinguish human coronary atherosclerotic plaque compositions and accurately classify advanced plaques.
优化体外冠状动脉壁成像的磁共振成像（MRI）方案，对冠状动脉粥样硬化斑块进行特征分析。
前瞻性地对 10 个猪心进行 MRI 检查，以优化 MRI 成像方案。使用相同参数对冠状动脉壁进行各种表面线圈成像。然后，进一步优化高分辨率冠状动脉壁成像的图像参数。测量图像的信噪比（SNR）和对比噪声比（CNR）。最后，使用优化后的方案对 8 例具有冠状动脉粥样硬化斑块的人体心脏进行前瞻性 MRI 检查，以对冠状动脉粥样硬化斑块进行特征分析。
各种表面线圈中，颞下颌线圈的 SNR 和 CNR 最高。使用颞下颌线圈，矩阵为 512×512 时，可获得高分辨率、高 SNR 和 CNR 的离体冠状动脉壁图像。与组织病理学相比，MRI 识别高级斑块的敏感性和特异性为：IV-V 型（脂质、坏死、纤维化）为 94%和 95%；VI 型（出血）为 100%和 98%；VII 型（钙化）为 91%和 100%；VIII 型（无脂质核心的纤维化）为 100%和 98%。
与八通道头部线圈和膝关节线圈相比，颞下颌线圈明显更适用于离体冠状动脉壁成像，可提供更高的空间分辨率并提高 SNR。离体高分辨率 MRI 具有区分人冠状动脉粥样硬化斑块成分的能力，并能准确地对高级斑块进行分类。
