Interstudy reproducibility of three-dimensional volume-selective fast spin echo magnetic resonance for quantifying carotid artery wall volume

✍ Scribed by Anitha Varghese; Lindsey A. Crowe; Raad H. Mohiaddin; Peter D. Gatehouse; Guang Zhong Yang; David M. Nott; James M. McCall; David N. Firmin; Dudley J. Pennell

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2005
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 342 KB
• Volume: 21
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1053-1807
• DOI: 10.1002/jmri.20249

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Purpose

To assess the interstudy reproducibility of a three‐dimensional volume‐selective, fast spin echo (FSE) magnetic resonance technique for the assessment of carotid artery wall volume, which is a marker for total carotid plaque volume.

Materials and Methods

Interstudy reproducibility was evaluated in 10 subjects with evidence of carotid artery atherosclerotic disease on carotid Doppler ultrasonography. Subjects were scanned twice with an interscan time of one hour to four days. The carotid artery was imaged in cross‐section, and the total carotid arterial wall volume (TWV) was calculated by subtraction of the total carotid lumen volume from the total outer carotid vessel volume.

Results

The mean carotid TWV for the scans was 741 and 734 mm^3^, respectively, with no significant difference (mean difference 7 mm^3^; P = 0.5). The time for each study was approximately 20 minutes. The standard deviation of the differences between the measurements was 33 mm^3^, yielding an interstudy coefficient of variation of 4.4%. Sample size calculations showed that 16 patients would enable this difference in plaque volume over time to be detected with 80% power at a P value of 0.05.

Conclusion

Volumetric analysis with CMR of carotid artery plaques using a three‐dimensional volume‐selective FSE is efficient with good interstudy reproducibility, and is well suited for longitudinal studies of progression of carotid atheroma with reasonable sample sizes. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2005;21:187–191. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.