title: [Quantitative measurement of carotid atherosclerotic plaque by high-resolution three- dimensional black-blood magnetic resonance imaging].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the value of high-resolution three-dimensional black-blood magnetic resonance imaging (3D-BB-MRI) in quantitative measurement of carotid atherosclerotic plaque by comparison with two-dimensional black-blood magnetic resonance imaging (2D-BB-MRI).
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty patients were scanned with routine 2D and oblique-sagittal 3D-BB-MRI. The original oblique-sagittal 3D images were reformatted to an axial 2D-like dataset. Two experienced radiologists identified the interested slice in consensus for every patient (unilateral carotid artery) in 2D-BB-MRI images and matched the axial reformatted 3D images with 2D black-blood images. Plaque thickness (PT), lumen area (LA) and total vessel area (TVA) were measured, and lumen stenosis (LS) and normalized wall index (NWI) were calculated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There was no measurement difference between 2D-BB-MRI and reformatted 3D-BB-MRI (P>0.05), and these two methods had a good correlation (r<0.9). The Bland-Altman chart showed that 2D-BB-MRI and 3D-BB-MRI were in good agreement in the measurement of PT, LA and TVA.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  3D-BB-MRI and 2D-BB-MRI have no obvious difference in quantitative measurement of the carotid plaques. 3D-BB-MRI can demonstrate the vessels and plaques by multiplanar reconstruction and thus have better performance in evaluating carotid atherosclerosis compared with 2D-BB-MRI.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, General Hospital of PLA, Beijing 100853, China. ldq562892650@126.com
authors.forename: Danqing
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Qingjun
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Jianming
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.forename: Youquan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Xu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Han
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002340:Carotid Artery Diseases / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged