The potential role of IDEAL MRI for identification of lipids and hemorrhage in carotid artery plaques

Hemorrhage and lipid deposits contribute to instability in atherosclerotic plaques. Unstable carotid artery plaques can lead to cerebral ischemic events. While MRI studies have shown the ability to identify plaque components, the identification of hemorrhage and lipids has proven to be problematic. The purpose of this study was to quantitatively evaluate the potential of the MRI fat/water separation method known as iterative decomposition of water and fat with echo asymmetry and least squares estimation (IDEAL) to complement and improve existing methods for the identification of hemorrhage and lipids in carotid artery plaques.

Source: Magnetic Resonance Imaging - December 4, 2017 Category: Radiology Authors: Faisal Khosa, Rachel E. Clough, Xiaoen Wang, Ananth J. Madhuranthakam, Robert L. Greenman Tags: Technical note Source Type: research