Modified electrocardiograph-triggered black-blood turbo spin-echo technique to improve T1-weighting in contrast-enhanced MRI of atherosclerotic carotid arteries
✍ Scribed by Loic Boussel; Gwenael Herigault; Monica Sigovan; Romaric Loffroy; Emmanuelle Canet-Soulas; Philippe Charles Douek
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 2008
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 231 KB
- Volume
- 28
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 1053-1807
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✦ Synopsis
Abstract
Purpose
To assess the efficacy of a modified electrocardiograph (EKG)‐triggered black‐blood T1W (T1W) spin‐echo sequence in improving contrast on post‐gadolinium high‐resolution carotid plaque imaging by implementing heart‐rate–independent contrast preparation.
Materials and Methods
We used a standard EKG‐triggered double inversion‐recovery (DIR) turbo spin‐echo (TSE) sequence modified with the addition of an extra saturation (90°) radio frequency (RF) pulse placed immediately after the DIR module, shortening the repetition time to a fixed value of 400 msec. A total of 10 patients with atherosclerotic disease were included in the study. Postinjection intraplaque contrast measurements were performed on each patient for the standard and the modified sequence.
Results
Post‐gadolinium‐injection intraplaque contrast was 31.7 ± 12.8% with the standard T1W sequence (nT1‐TSE), and 45.3 ± 17.2% with the modified T1W sequence (mT1‐TSE), showing a significant contrast enhancement of 13.6% (P < 0.001) without significant image quality modification.
Conclusion
The addition of a RF pulse to the standard EKG‐triggered T1W TSE sequence increased intraplaque contrast without increasing sequence acquisition time. Furthermore, it appeared to be a robust technique, easy to implement on clinical scanners. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2008;28:533–537. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.