Combined transesophageal and surface MRI provides optimal imaging in aortic atherosclerosis.
OBJECTIVE
Surface magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for aortic plaque assessment is limited by the trade-off between penetration depth and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). For imaging the deep seated aorta, a combined surface and transesophageal MRI (TEMRI) technique was developed 1) to determine the individual contribution of TEMRI and surface coils to the combined signal, 2) to measure the signal improvement of a combined surface and TEMRI over surface MRI, and 3) to assess for reproducibility of plaque dimension analysis.


RESULTS
In 24 patients six black blood proton-density/T2-weighted fast-spin echo images were obtained using three surface and one TEMRI coil for SNR measurements. Reproducibility of plaque dimensions (combined surface and TEMRI) was measured in 10 patients. TEMRI contributed 68% of the signal in the aortic arch and descending aorta, whereas the overall signal gain using the combined technique was up to 225%. Plaque volume measurements had an intraclass correlation coefficient of as high as 0.97.


CONCLUSIONS
Plaque volume measurements for the quantification of aortic plaque size are highly reproducible for combined surface and TEMRI. The TEMRI coil contributes considerably to the aortic MR signal. The combined surface and TEMRI approach improves aortic signal significantly as compared to surface coils alone.


CONCLUSIONS
Conventional MRI aortic plaque visualization is limited by the penetration depth of MRI surface coils and may lead to suboptimal image quality with insufficient reproducibility. By combining a transesophageal MRI (TEMRI) with surface MRI coils we enhanced local and overall image SNR for improved image quality and reproducibility.
Steen
Henning
H
Cardiology Division of the Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Maryland 21287, USA.
Warren
William P
WP
Desai
Milind
M
Gautam
Sandeep
S
Lai
Shanghan
S
Heath
Scott
S
Stuber
Matthias
M
Lima
João A C
JA
D000368:Aged; D001013:Aorta, Thoracic / Q000473:pathology*; D001018:Aortic Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D050197:Atherosclerosis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D004947:Esophagus; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015588:Observer Variation; D015203:Reproducibility of Results