High-resolution intravascular magnetic resonance imaging of the coronary artery wall at 3.0 Tesla: toward evaluation of atherosclerotic plaque vulnerability

Abstract

Background: To validate the feasibility of generating high-resolution intravascular 3.0 Tesla (T) magnetic resonance imaging of the coronary artery wall to further plaque imaging.Methods: A receive-only 0.014-inch diameter magnetic resonance imaging guidewire (MRIG) was manufactured for intravascular imaging within a phantom experiment and the coronary artery wall of the swine. For coronary artery wall imaging, both high-resolution images and conventional resolution images were acquired. A 16-channel commercial surface coil for magnetic resonance imaging was employed for the control group.Results: For the phantom experiment, the MRIG showed a higher signal-to-noise ratio than the surface coil. The peak signal-to-noise ratio of the MRIG and the surface coil-generated imaging were 213.6 and 19.8, respectively. The signal-to-noise ratio decreased rapidly as the distance from the MRIG increased. For the coronary artery wall experiment, the vessel wall imaging by the MRIG could be identified clearly, whereas the vessel wall imaging by the surface coil was blurred. The average signal-to-noise ratio of the artery wall was 21.1±5.40 by the MRIG compared to 8.4±2.19 by the surface coil, where the resolution was set at 0.2 mm × 0.2 mm × 2 mm. As expected, the high-resolution sequence clearly showed more details than the conventional resolution sequence set at 0.7 mm × 0.7 mm × 2.0 mm. Histological examination showed no evidence of mechanical injuries in the target vessel walls. Conclusions:The study validated the feasibility of generating magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at 0.2 mm × 0.2 mm × 2 mm for the coronary artery wall using a 0.014 inch MRIG.

A clinical-radiomics combined model based on carotid atherosclerotic plaque for prediction of ischemic stroke

“…An increasing amount of evidence indicates that vulnerable plaques are highly likely to lead to ischemic stroke and thrombotic complications, independent of the extent of luminal stenosis ( 6 , 7 ). High-resolution vessel wall magnetic resonance imaging (HR-VWMRI) can not only assess luminal stenosis, but also characterize plaque morphology and different atherosclerotic components and identify vulnerable plaques ( 8 ). Plaque vulnerability imaging features include intraplaque hemorrhage (IPH), lipid-rich necrotic cores (LRNC) and thin fibrous caps, plaque inflammation, intraplaque neovascularization, plaque surface ulceration, and positive vascular remodeling ( 9 ).…”

High-efficiency 3D black-blood thoracic aorta imaging with patch-based low-rank tensor reconstruction

“…Through blood signal suppression, it can increase the contrast between the blood and vessel wall (12). Therefore, it can support the detection of conditions such as arterial wall thickening, aortic dissection, and vulnerable atherosclerotic plaques (13)(14)(15)(16). In addition, the high spatial resolution can visualize and characterize the composition of atherosclerotic plaques in vivo based on MR signal intensity and can evaluate the effect of medical treatment on changes in wall thickness more precisely (12,17).…”