Wehrum Thomas, Dragonu Iulius, Strecker Christoph, Hennig Jürgen, Harloff Andreas
Department of Neurology and Neurophysiology, Medical Center, University of Freiburg, Germany.
Department of Neurology and Neurophysiology, Medical Center, University of Freiburg, Germany; Department of Radiology - MR Physics, Medical Center, University of Freiburg, Germany.
Eur J Radiol. 2017 Jun;91:148-154. doi: 10.1016/j.ejrad.2017.04.011. Epub 2017 Apr 17.
To develop a 3D-multi-contrast MRI protocol allowing for high resolution imaging of the wall and of atheroma in the thoracic aorta.
Eleven healthy volunteers and eleven acute stroke patients with aortic plaques detected by TEE underwent MRI at 3T. The MRI-protocol consisted of a T1w-bright-blood, a T2w- and a PDw-black-blood sequence (spatial resolution=1.15mm). Image quality was assessed by two blinded investigators using a 3-point score and intra- and inter-rater agreement was tested. In patients, atherosclerotic plaques were graded according to the modified American Heart Association (AHA) classification.
Total examination time was 35:42±7:48min in volunteers and 41:07±3:15min in patients. Image quality was graded with the highest score in 80-94% of T1w, 89-96% of T2w and 79-86% of PDw datasets. Intra- and inter-rater reliability regarding image quality grading was high. Five stroke patients showed AHA type III lesions, three had AHA type VII and two had type VIII plaques. One patient had a vulnerable appearing AHA VI plaque.
3D-multi-contrast MR-imaging of the aorta was performed with high image quality and in reasonable time. It allows evaluation of atherosclerotic plaque composition throughout the aortic arch and can be used to identify vulnerable plaques in acute stroke patients.
开发一种三维多对比磁共振成像（MRI）方案，以实现对胸主动脉壁和动脉粥样硬化斑块的高分辨率成像。
11名健康志愿者和11名经经食管超声心动图（TEE）检测出主动脉斑块的急性中风患者接受了3T磁共振成像检查。MRI方案包括T1加权亮血序列、T2加权和质子密度加权黑血序列（空间分辨率=1.15毫米）。由两名盲法研究者使用3分制对图像质量进行评估，并测试评分者内和评分者间的一致性。对患者的动脉粥样硬化斑块根据改良的美国心脏协会（AHA）分类进行分级。
志愿者的总检查时间为35:42±7:48分钟，患者为41:07±3:15分钟。在T1加权数据集的80-94%、T2加权数据集的89-96%和质子密度加权数据集的79-86%中，图像质量被评为最高分。关于图像质量分级的评分者内和评分者间可靠性较高。5名中风患者表现为AHA III型病变，3名有AHA VII型病变，2名有VIII型斑块。1名患者有一个看似易损的AHA VI型斑块。
主动脉的三维多对比磁共振成像以高质量且在合理时间内完成。它能够评估整个主动脉弓的动脉粥样硬化斑块成分，并可用于识别急性中风患者中的易损斑块。
