Carotid artery plaque burden and composition characteristics measured by 3.0T MRI and its relationship with ischemic stroke / 中华神经医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the differences of carotid plaque burden,composition characteristics between index side and non-index side in patients with ischemic stroke by multi-contrast 3.0T MRI,and analyze their relationships with cerebral ischemic events.Methods Sixty-two ischemic stroke patients,admitted to our hospital from 2012 August to 2013 December,were chosen in our study;they all underwent brain routine 3.0T MR imaging examinations within 2 weeks of stoke onset; according to the ischemic signs,the index side and non-index side of the patients were recognized and noted; carotid artery multi-contrast MR imaging was,then,employed to distinguish the discriminant carotid artery plaque components (such as calcification,lipid rich necrotic core [LRNC],intraplaque hemorrhage [IPH])and measure the corresponding volume,to judge the carotid artery plaque fibrous cap surface state (complete or broken) measure the total vessel area,lumen area,wall thickness and calculation wall area and normalized wall index.Results A total of 120 carotid arteries met the inclusion criteria,including 85 in the index side and 35 in the non-index side.LRNC and IPH incidence rates between the index side and non-index side (71.7％ vs.22.8％; 12.9％ vs.0％) and volume (19.96 mm3 [0 mm3,61.91 mm3] vs.0mm3 [0 mm3,0 mm3]; [0 mm3,58.73 mm3] vs.[0 mm3,0 mm3]) were statistically different (P＜0.05).FCR incidence rate showed no significant difference between the index side and non-index side (P＞0.05).The carotid artery average and maximum wall area ([28.06±10.06] mm2 and [47.61±16.82] mm2),average and maximum wall thickness ([1.07±0.37] mm and [2.88±1.72] mm),and average and maximum wall standard index ([0.41 ±,0.09] and [0.54±0.16]) of index side had significant difference as compared with the non-index side([22.50±5.04] mm2 and [36.22±10.53] ram2; [0.88±0.18] mm and [1.91±1.00] mm;[0.36±0.05] and [0.45±0.10],P＜0.05).Conclusion The 3.0T multi-contrast high resolution MRI of the carotid artery can quantitatively measure the carotid plaque burden and evaluate the plaque characteristics; the heavier the plaque burden,the more complex the components,the higher the cerebral ischemic events.