ABSTRACT
Cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR)1 has emerged as one of the most promising noninvasive imaging modalities for atherosclerotic disease detection.2 It directly images atherosclerotic lesions, measures atherosclerotic burden, and characterizes plaque components. Atherosclerotic lesion imaging requires the acquisition of high spatial resolution (<1 mm) and contrast resolution, due to the small size of the vessels under consideration, the adjacent lumen, and the size of each plaque structure. Non-invasive, in vivo high-resolution CMR is performed using dedicated external receiver coils and imaging sequences. Most CMR plaque imaging is currently being performed on a whole-body 1.5 T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system. In vivo CMR plaque imaging and characterization have been performed utilizing a multicontrast approach with high-resolution black-blood spin echo-and fast spin echo-based MRI and bright-blood sequences. In the black-blood sequence, the signal from the flowing blood is rendered black through preparatory pulses. Another technique, bright-blood imaging, can be employed for assessing fibrous cap thickness and morphological ‘integrity’ of carotid artery plaques.3
