| Objective To prospectively evaluate the diagnosis accuracy and clinical application of contrast-enhanced three-dimensional magnetic resonance angiography (3D-CE-MRA) in carotid artery stenosis and compare the clinical value of3D-CE-MRA and DSA in diagnosis of carotid artery stenosis. And evaluate the ability of MR imaging to identify the carotid plaque and the imaging features of carotid plaque.Materials and methods Fourty three patients with the symptom of headache, dizziness, numbness, hemiplegia, disturbance of consciousness underwent3D-CE-MRA and DSA examinations. And then the two examinations were performed to evaluate carotid artery stenosis. The interval between two examinations was not more than1week. T1WI, T2WI and PDWI were performed on31stenosis. All3D-CE-MRA and DSA examinations were independently reviewed at separate sittings by two radiologists. And then compared the results and evaluated the accuracy of3D-CE-MRA in diagnosis of carotid artery stenosis. The imagings of carotid plaque was reviewed by another radiologist.Results In summary, our study has shown that3D-CE-MRA and DSA has similar diagnostic performance for evaluating the carotid artery stenosis. Compared with DSA, the sensiticity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of3D-CE-MRA in diagnosis of carotid artery stenosis was83.0%,94.1%,86.3%and92.6%. For31plaques,19were identified as vulnerable, and on MRI, these plaques showed more eccentric position of lumen, larger area of lip nucleus, more sophistication in signal, and sometimes having intraplaque hemorrhage.12were identified as stable plaques, showed concentric narrow of the lumen, and the signal of the plaque is homogeneity.Conclusion As one noninvasive imaging methord,3D-CE-MRA has specital advantage and will be the primary exam in diagnosis of carotid artery stenosis. And the high MRI may provide valuable information about the morphology of carotid plaque and its association to vulnerability. |
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