title: Delayed contrast-enhanced MRI of the coronary artery wall in takayasu arteritis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Takayasu arteritis (TA) is a rare form of chronic inflammatory granulomatous arteritis of the aorta and its major branches. Late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has demonstrated its value for the detection of vessel wall alterations in TA. The aim of this study was to assess LGE of the coronary artery wall in patients with TA compared to patients with stable CAD.
  
  
  METHODS
  We enrolled 9 patients (8 female, average age 46±13 years) with proven TA. In the CAD group 9 patients participated (8 male, average age 65±10 years). Studies were performed on a commercial 3T whole-body MR imaging system (Achieva; Philips, Best, The Netherlands) using a 3D inversion prepared navigator gated spoiled gradient-echo sequence, which was repeated 34-45 minutes after low-dose gadolinium administration.
  
  
  RESULTS
  No coronary vessel wall enhancement was observed prior to contrast in either group. Post contrast, coronary LGE on IR scans was detected in 28 of 50 segments (56%) seen on T2-Prep scans in TA and in 25 of 57 segments (44%) in CAD patients. LGE quantitative assessment of coronary artery vessel wall CNR post contrast revealed no significant differences between the two groups (CNR in TA: 6.0±2.4 and 7.3±2.5 in CAD; p = 0.474).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings suggest that LGE of the coronary artery wall seems to be common in patients with TA and similarly pronounced as in CAD patients. The observed coronary LGE seems to be rather unspecific, and differentiation between coronary vessel wall fibrosis and inflammation still remains unclear.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine/Cardiology, Deutsches Herzzentrum Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Schneeweis
authors.forename: Bernhard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Schnackenburg
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Stuber
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Berger
authors.forename: Udo
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Schneider
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Rolf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gebker
authors.forename: Robert G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Weiss
authors.forename: Eckart
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Fleck
authors.forename: Sebastian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kelle
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000473:pathology*; D003331:Coronary Vessels / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013625:Takayasu Arteritis / Q000473:pathology*