Anja Gwendolyn van Der Kolk1, Jaco J. M.
Zwanenburg1,2, Manon Brundel3, Geert Jan Biessels3,
Fredy Visser1,4, Peter R. Luijten1, Jeroen Hendrikse1
1Department of Radiology,
University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands; 2Image
Science Institute, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands; 3Department
of Neurology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands; 4Philips
Healthcare, Best, Netherlands
Nineteen patients with TIA or ischemic stroke and a relatively high risk of intracranial atherosclerosis were scanned with the 3D (volumetric) Magnetization Prepared Inversion Recovery Turbo Spin Echo (3D MPIR-TSE) sequence at 7 Tesla MRI, before and after contrast administration, for optimal visualisation of intracranial arterial vessel wall and possible depiction of atherosclerotic lesions. In total 25 lesions were found, of which 7 enhanced after contrast and only 3 lesions caused luminal stenosis as seen on TOF-MRA. The MPIR-TSE sequence makes it possible to study the role of intracranial atherosclerosis in stroke and TIA in more detail.