Seong-Eun Kim1,2, Scott McNally2,
Laura K. Findeiss2, Jordan Hulet3, John Roberts1,2,
Eun-Kee Jeong1,2, Dennis L. Parker1,2, Gerald S.
Treiman4,5
1UCAIR, University of Utah, Salt Lake
City, UT, United States; 2Department of Radiology, University of
Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United States; 3Department of Biomedical
Informatics, University of Utah; 4Department of Surgery,
University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United States; 5Veterans
Affair, VASLCHCS, Salt Lake City, UT, United States
Atherosclerotic
plaques are composed of varying degrees of lipid, necrotic tissue, loose
connective tissue, hemorrhage, and calcification. The extent of lipid accumulation and the
presence of intramural hemorrhage have been found to be associated with the
degree of plaque vulnerability and risk of plaque rupture. Recent ex vivo
studies of carotid plaques found that DWI could detect lipids and hemorrhage
with greater sensitivity than other MRI.
This study reports the ADC values of lipid, hemorrhage and overall
wall composition as measured with in-vivo DWI, with histology used as the
basis for comparison