N. Jane Taylor1, Vicky J. Goh1, J James Stirling1, Ian Simcock1, Matthew Orton2, David J. Collins2, Ralph Strecker3, Leon Menezes4, Justin Cross5, Carl W. Kotze6, Syed W. Yusuf6, Ashley M. Groves4
1Paul Strickland Scanner Centre, Mount Vernon Hospital, Northwood, Middlesex HA6 2RN, UK; 2CR-UK Clinical MR Research Group, Royal Marsden Hospital, Sutton, Surrey, SM2 5PT, UK; 3Healthcare Sector, Siemens AG, 91052 Erlangen, Germany; 4University College Hospital, London, UK; 5Addenbrookes Hospital, Cambridge, UK; 6Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals, Brighton, UK
The purpose was to prospectively assess the neovascularisation of symptomatic carotid plaques using DCE-MRI at 3T. 9 patients (8 male; mean 71 years) presenting with transient ischaemic attack, with significant stenoses on Doppler ultrasound and awaiting carotid endarterectomy underwent 3T DCE-MRI following injection of 0.1mmol/kg Gd-DTPA (dynamic 3D VIBE sequence, 5.3s interval, 70 acquisitions). Semiquantitative (IAUGC60; peak gadolinium concentration (mmol); time to peak (s), maximal gradient) and quantitative (Ktrans, ve, kep, vp) parameters were obtained following motion correction and image registration. Mean Ktrans, ve, kep were 0.74, 0.28, 2.33 respectively. 3T DCE-MRI plaque assessment is feasible.