Abstract
Purpose: To compare two multlslice turbo spin-echo (TSE) carotid artery wall imaging techniques at 1.5 T and 3.0 T, and to investigate the feasibility of higher spatial resolution carotid artery wall imaging at 3.0 T. Materials sad Methods: Multislice proton density-weighted (PDW), T2-weighted (T2W), and T1-weighted (T1W) inflow/outflow saturation band (IOSB) and rapid extended coverage double inversion-recovery (REX-DIR) TSE carotid artery wall imaging was performed on six healthy volunteers at 1.5 T and 3.0 T using time-, coverage-, and spatial resolution-matched (0.47 × 0.47 × 3 mm3) imaging protocols. To investigate whether improved signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) at 3.0 T could allow for improved spatial resolution, higher spatial resolution imaging (0.31 × 0.31 × 3 mm3) was performed at 3.0 T. Carotid artery wall SNR, carotid lumen SNR, and wall-lumen contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) were measured. Results: Signal gain at 3.0 T relative to 1.5 T was observed for carotid artery wall SNR (223%) and wall-lumen CNR (255%) in all acquisitions (P < 0.025). IOSB and REX-DIR images were found to have different levels of SNR and CNR (P < 0.05) with IOSB values observed to be larger. Normalized to a common imaging time, the higher spatial resolution imaging at 3.0 T and the lower spatial resolution imaging at 1.5 T provided similar levels of wall-lumen CNR (P = NS). Conclusion: Multislice carotid wall imaging at 3.0 T with IOSB and REX-DIR benefits from improved SNR and CNR relative to 1.5 T, and allows for higher spatial resolution carotid artery wall imaging.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 699-705 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging |
Volume | 23 |
Issue number | 5 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - May 2006 |
Keywords
- Black blood
- Carotid arteries
- High field imaging
- Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
- Vessel wall imaging