title: High resolution three dimensional intracranial arterial wall imaging at 3 T using T1 weighted SPACE.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To study the effect of imaging parameters on the contrast of T1 weighted SPACE (Sampling Perfection with Application optimized Contrast using different angle Evolutions, a 3D TSE variant) at 3 T for high resolution imaging of intracranial plaques before contrast and with post-gadolinium induced enhancement, and evaluate its relevance to patients with intracranial atherosclerosis.
  
  
  METHODS
  Optimized parameters giving good T1 contrast between intracranial vessel wall and cerebrospinal fluid within a specific scan time and reasonable coverage were found by simulation and validated in a healthy volunteer study. Based on the results, a clinical protocol covering the three major intracranial arteries (middle cerebral arteries, basilar arteries, and petrous internal carotid arteries) was developed. It was applied in ten patients diagnosed with intracranial arterial lesions. The accuracy of the technique in depicting vessel lumen was assessed by comparison to contrast enhanced MR angiography. The contrast enhancement ratios of the vessel wall/plaque identified were analyzed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Simulation and volunteer study showed that using T1 weighted SPACE, good T1 contrast between vessel wall and cerebrospinal fluid occurred at TR of around 1000 ms using an echo train length of 21 within 10 minutes at an isotropic spatial resolution of 0.5 mm. In the 10 patients, 24 plaques were identified in the various segments of the intracranial arterial system of which eight appeared normal on MR angiography. Post-contrast enhancement ratio of these plaques varied from 0% up to 156%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  T1 weighted SPACE provides good T1 contrast between intracranial arterial wall and cerebrospinal fluid with high resolution and good coverage within a clinically acceptable scan time. It can depict plaques pre- and post-contrast along the vessels surrounded by cerebrospinal fluid in the intracranial arterial system, and would be a useful tool in the clinical assessment of intracranial arterial diseases.
authors.affiliation: Shenzhen Key Laboratory for MRI, Paul C. Lauterbur Research Center for Biomedical Imaging, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, China.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Shenzhen Key Laboratory for MRI, Paul C. Lauterbur Research Center for Biomedical Imaging, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, China.
authors.forename: Na
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Beijing University Shenzhen Hospital, Shenzhen, China.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Shenzhen Key Laboratory for MRI, Paul C. Lauterbur Research Center for Biomedical Imaging, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, China.
authors.forename: Lijuan
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Beijing University Shenzhen Hospital, Shenzhen, China.
authors.forename: Yanyan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Shenzhen Key Laboratory for MRI, Paul C. Lauterbur Research Center for Biomedical Imaging, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, China.
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Shenzhen Key Laboratory for MRI, Paul C. Lauterbur Research Center for Biomedical Imaging, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, China. Electronic address: yc.chung@siat.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Yiu-Cho
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Chung
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001921:Brain / Q000098:blood supply / Q000473:pathology*; D003287:Contrast Media; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D002537:Intracranial Arteriosclerosis / Q000473:pathology*; D018810:Magnetic Resonance Angiography; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D058226:Plaque, Atherosclerotic / Q000473:pathology; D015203:Reproducibility of Results
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media
keywords: Intracranial arterial wall; Intracranial plaque; Plaque enhancement; T1 weighted SPACE