Ronald van 't Klooster1, Andrew J. Patterson2,
Victoria E. Young2, Jonathan H. Gillard2, Johan H.C.
Reiber1, Rob J. van der Geest1
1Division of Image Processing,
Department of Radiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden,
Netherlands; 2University Department of Radiology, Cambridge
University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Cambridge, United Kingdom
Extensive
MR vessel wall imaging protocols are used to identify unstable plaques, which
play an important role in the progression of atherosclerosis. Comparison was
made between automatic plaque detection, by a supervised classification
system, and histology assisted manual segmentation. Experiments show that the
automatic detection of unstable plaque is in good agreement with the manual
segmentation. Moreover, the STIR and DWI sequences show an improvement over
the T2w and PDw sequences. Automatic detection of soft plaque may be feasible
by using a limited number of MR sequences, saving both MRI system and image
analysis time.