Mirko Meiner1, Daniel Drschmied2,
Irene Neudorfer2, Constantin von Zur Mhlen2, Dominik
von Elverfeldt1
1Dept. of Radiology /
Medical Physics, University Medical Center Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany; 2Dept.
of Cardiology & Angiology, University Medical Center Freiburg, Freiburg,
Germany
The final event leading to myocardial infarction is adhesion and activation of platelets after rupture of an atherosclerotic plaque. Platelets then aggregate, culminating in thrombotic occlusion of the coronary artery. We examined the feasibility of molecular MRI for the detection of non-occluding coronary artery thrombosis in mice, by using MPIOs targeted to activated platelets. Hypointense regions in the MR images were co-localised with MPIO accumulation in thrombi, as confirmed by histology.