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(Circulation. 1996;94:932-938.)
© 1996 American Heart Association, Inc.
Articles |
Service de Cardiologie, Hopital Cochin, Paris, Service Hospitalier Frederic Joliot, CEA, Orsay, France (J-F.T.); the Cardiac Unit and NMR Center (J-F.T., H.L.K.), Division of Vascular Surgery (G.M.LaM.), and Pathology Department (J.F.S.), Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston; and the Cardiovascular Institute, Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York, NY (V.F.).
Correspondence to J.F. Toussaint, MD, PhD, Service Hospitalier Frederic Joliot, Groupe de RMN, CEA, 4 Place du General Leclerc, 91401 Orsay, Cedex, France. E-mail toussain@uriens.shfj.cea.fr.
Background Although MRI can discriminate the lipid core from the collagenous cap of atherosclerotic lesions in vitro with T2 contrast, it has not yet produced detailed in vivo images of these human plaque components.
Methods and Results We imaged seven lesions from six patients who required surgical carotid endarterectomy and calculated T2 in vivo before surgery in various plaque regions. Using the same acquisition parameters, we repeated these measurements in vitro on the resected fragment and compared MR images with histology. T2 values calculated in vivo correlate with in vitro measurements for each plaque component; the in vitro discrimination we demonstrated previously with T2 contrast can therefore be performed similarly in vivo.
Conclusions MRI is the first noninvasive imaging technique that allows the discrimination of lipid cores, fibrous caps, calcifications, normal media, and adventitia in human atheromatous plaques in vivo. This technique also characterizes intraplaque hemorrhage and acute thrombosis. This result may support further investigations that include MRI of plaque progression, stabilization, and rupture in human atherosclerosis.
Key Words: magnetic resonance imaging lipids fibrous cap thrombosis carotid arteries
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