Comparison of Gated and Ungated Black-Blood Fast Spin-echo MRI of Carotid Vessel Wall at 3T.
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Publication Date
2016-07-11Journal Title
Magnetic Resonance in Medical Sciences
ISSN
1347-3182
Publisher
Japan Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine
Volume
15
Issue
3
Pages
266-272
Language
English
Type
Article
This Version
VoR
Metadata
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Zhu, C., Graves, M., Sadat, U., Young, V., Gillard, J., & Patterson, A. (2016). Comparison of Gated and Ungated Black-Blood Fast Spin-echo MRI of Carotid Vessel Wall at 3T.. Magnetic Resonance in Medical Sciences, 15 (3), 266-272. https://doi.org/10.2463/mrms.mp.2014-0133
Abstract
PURPOSE: Multi-slice ungated double inversion recovery has been proposed as an alternative time-efficient and effective sequence for black-blood carotid imaging. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the comparative repeatability of this multi-contrast sequence with respect to a single slice double inversion recovery prepared gated sequence. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Ten healthy volunteers and three patients with Doppler ultrasound defined carotid artery stenosis >30% were recruited. T₁-weighted (T₁W) and T₂W fast spin-echo (FSE) images were acquired centered at the carotid bifurcation with and without cardiac gating. Repeat imaging was performed without patient repositioning to determine the variations in vessel wall measurement and signal intensity due to gating, while negating variations as a result of slice misalignment and anatomical displacement relative to the receiver coil. The distributions and the repeatability of lumen area, vessel wall area, signal and contrast-to-noise ratio (SNR/CNR) of the vessel wall and adjacent muscle were reported. RESULTS: The T₁W ungated sequence generally had comparable wall SNR/CNR with respect to the gated sequence, however the muscle SNR was lower (P = 0.013). The T₂W ungated multi-slice sequence had lower SNR/CNR than the gated single slice sequence (P < 0.001), but with equivalent effective wall CNR (P = 0.735). Vessel area measurements using the gated/ungated sequences were equivalent. Ungated sequences had better repeatability in SNR/CNR than the gated sequences with borderline and statistically significant differences. The repeatability of T₂W wall area measurement was better using the ungated sequences (P = 0.02), and the repeatability of the remaining vessel area measurements were equivalent. CONCLUSIONS: Ungated sequences can achieve comparable SNR/CNR and equivalent carotid vessel area measurements than gated sequences with improved repeatability of SNR/CNR. Ungated sequences are good alternatives of gated sequences for vessel area measurement and plaque composition quantification.
Keywords
Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Carotid Stenosis, Female, Gated Blood-Pool Imaging, Humans, Image Enhancement, Imaging, Three-Dimensional, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Young Adult
Sponsorship
This research is partly supported by ARTreat European Union Frame Project 7 and the National Institute of Health Research, Cambridge Biomedical Research Center grant.
Funder references
British Heart Foundation (PG/11/74/29100)
British Heart Foundation (RG/10/007/28300)
EC FP7 CP (224297)
TCC (NIHR/CS/009/011)
Identifiers
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.2463/mrms.mp.2014-0133
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/262220
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International, Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International, Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International, Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International