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Comparison of 3D T1-TSE BB MRI and iMSDE prepared 3D T1-TSE BB MRI in patients with cervical carotid stenosis confirmed by DSA Masayuki Maeda, Katsuhiro Inoue, Tsunehiro Yamahata, Maki Umino, Hajime Sakuma Dept. of Radiology, Mie University School of Medicine, Mie, Japan

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Background For accurate morphology assessments of vessel wall diseases, efficiently flowing blood signal suppression is important. Nevertheless, because of the complicated flow patterns of cervical carotid artery bifurcation, current black-blood (BB) imaging techniques are frequently degraded by plaque-mimicking artifacts (Fig. 1A). The improved motion-sensitization driven equilibrium (iMSDE) sequence has been proposed to improve blood suppression 1) (Fig. 1B). AB Fig. 1 Normal Volunteer. A.BB MRI without iMSDE shows substantial blood signal (arrowhead). B.BB MRI with iMSDE efficiently suppresses carotid blood signal (arrowhead). 1). Wang J et al. J Magn Reson Imaging 31(5): 1256-63, 2010

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Purpose To compare the clinical significance of iMSDE prepared 3D T1-TSE BB MRI with that of 3D T1-TSE BB MRI in patients with cervical carotid stenosis confirmed by digital subtraction angiography (DSA)

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Materials and Methods 45 patients with cervical carotid artery stenosis (NASCET mean 64.2 ) confirmed by DSA 3T MRI (Achieva, Quasar Dual; Philips) with a 16 channel NV array coil 3D T1-TSE BB MRI sequences with and without iMSDE Voxel sizes for 3D T1-TSE BB MRI and iMSDE were 0.9 0.9 0.9 mm and 0.93 0.93 1 mm, respectively. Scanning times for 3D T1-TSE BB MRI and iMSDE were 3 min and 48 s and 4 min and 7 s, respectively.

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Image Analysis Visual assessment The border between the vessel wall and blood lumen was rated for stenotic vessels using four-point scoring to differentiate between the lumen and wall because of the flow artifact or other artifacts. 4 = no artifact (clear), 3 = partial or mild artifact (obscure), 2 = substantial artifact (obscure), and 1 = impossible. Quantitative assessment Contrast ratios of the plaque and adjacent lumen were obtained, as were signal ratios of the plaque to the sternocleidomastoid muscle. Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were used for statistical analysis.

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Result iMSDE (+) Score Contrast Ratio The border between the vessel wall and blood lumen P