Raf van Hoof1,
2, Martine Truijman1, 3, Evelien Hermeling1,
2, Robert J. van Oostenbrugge, 24, R.J. van der Geest5,
A.H. Schreuder6, A.G.G.C. Korten7, N.P. van Orshoven8,
Be Meens9, M.J.A.P. Daemen, 210, Joachim E. Wildberger1,
2, Walter H. Backes1, M.E. Kooi1, 2
1Radiology,
Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht, Netherlands; 2Cardiovascular
Research Institute Maastricht (CARIM), Maastricht University, Maastricht,
Netherlands; 3Clinical Neurophysiology, Maastricht University
Medical Center, Maastricht, Netherlands; 4Neurology, Maastricht
University Medical Center, Maastricht, Netherlands; 5Radiology,
Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands; 6Neurology,
Atrium Medical Centre, Heerlen, Netherlands; 7Neurology,
Laurentius Medical Centre, Roermond, Netherlands; 8Neurology,
Orbis Medical Centre, Sittard, Netherlands; 9Neurology, VieCuri
Medical Centre, Venlo, Netherlands; 10Pathology, Academic Medical
Centre, Amsterdam, Netherlands
A reliable vascular input function (VIF) is important for quantitative analysis of atherosclerotic carotid plaque microvasculature using dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) MRI. The purpose is 1) to compare magnitude-based VIF and phase-based VIF and 2) to investigate the influence of different VIFs on DCE MRI model parameters in carotid plaques. It is shown that magnitude-based VIF is strongly influenced by flow artefacts, leading to an underestimation of the peak Gadolinium concentration. Therefore, a phase-based VIF should be used for quantitative DCE MRI analysis.