Ex-vivo Assessment of Coronary Artery Atherosclerosis by Magnetic Resonance Imaging: Correlation with Histopathology.
BACKGROUND
In recent years, high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has emerged as a very promising technique for studying atherosclerotic disease in humans.


OBJECTIVE
In the present study we sought to determine whether MRI allowed for the morphological characterization of the coronary vessel wall and atherosclerotic plaques using histopathological assessment as the reference standard.


METHODS
The study population consisted of 13 patients who died of acute myocardial infarction and underwent autopsy. The proximal portions of the coronary arteries were excised and were evaluated both by MRI and by histopathology. For each arterial segment, the following parameters were calculated through manual planimetry: 1. total vessel area (TVA); 2. luminal area (LA) and 3. plaque area (PA).


RESULTS
A total of 207 coronary artery cross-sections were found to be suitable for analysis by both MRI and histopathology and were included in the final analyses. Both methods demonstrated moderate to good agreement for the quantification of TVA (mean difference = 2.4±2.4 mm(2), 95‰ limits of agreement from -2.4 to +7.2 mm(2); CCC = 0.69, 95‰ CI from 0.63 to 0.75), LA (mean difference = 0.0±1.7 mm(2), 95‰ limits of agreement from -3.3 to + 3.3 mm(2); CCC = 0.84, 95‰ CI from 0.80 to 0.88) and PA (mean difference = 2.4±2.4 mm(2), 95‰ limits of agreement from -2.3 to + 7.1 mm(2); CCC = 0.64, 95‰ CI from 0.58 to 0.71).


CONCLUSIONS
In this ex vivo experimental model we demonstrated good agreement between coronary artery morphometrical measurements obtained by high-resolution MRI and by histopathology.
Heart Institute (InCor) University of São Paulo Medical School, São Paulo, Brazil;
Everli P S Gonçalves
EP
Gomes
Heart Institute (InCor) University of São Paulo Medical School, São Paulo, Brazil;
Carlos Eduardo
CE
Rochitte
D'Or Institute for Research and Education (IDOR), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Clerio F
CF
Azevedo
Heart Institute (InCor) University of São Paulo Medical School, São Paulo, Brazil;
Pedro A
PA
Lemos
Heart Institute (InCor) University of São Paulo Medical School, São Paulo, Brazil;
Paulo Sampaio
PS
Gutierrez
Heart Institute (InCor) University of São Paulo Medical School, São Paulo, Brazil;
Luiz Antonio M
LA
César
Atherosclerosis; coronary artery disease; coronary vessels; histopathology; magnetic resonance imaging.