Seong-Eun Kim1, Eun-Kee Jeong1,
Xianfeng Shi2, Gerald S. Treiman3, Dennis L. Parker1
1Utah Center for Advanced
Imaging Research, Department of Radiology, University of Utah, Salt Lake
City, UT, United States; 2Brain Research Institute, University of
Utah; 3Department of Veterans Affairs, VASLCHCS, Salt Lake City,
UT
To improve the sensitivity and specify of plaque component identification in ADC maps a high resolution 3D DWI technique is desirable. 3D ss-IV-STEPI technique has been developed to acquire a high resolution DWI of a localized region such as the carotid artery. This technique acquires the total k-space of a limited 3D volume after a single diffusion-preparation. Inner volume technique is used to reduce the time required for EPI readout of each complete k-space and reduce blurring and susceptibility artifacts. In this work we present the first in vivo high resolution 3D DWI of the atherosclerosis plaques using the 3D-ss-IV-STEPI.