Evaluating Inflammation in Middle Cerebral Arterial Plaques with CAIPIRINHA－Dixon－TWIST DCE-MRI

Motivation: Plaque inflammation is the main cause of plaque instability; thus, a convenient and noninvasive method of evaluating intracranial plaque inflammation is needed. Goal(s): Noninvasive CDT DCE-MRI enables evaluating the inflammation of MCA culprit plaques in patients with IS. Approach: We compared the CDT DCE-MRI parameters of MCA culprit plaques between patients with acute and non-acute ischemic stroke (IS) and assessed the correlations between these parameters and stroke time. Results: Ktrans of the CDT DCE-MRI was higher in patients with acute IS than in patients with non-acute IS. Ktrans was significantly negatively correlated with stroke time. Impact: Ktrans allows non-invasively distinguishing responses to MCA plaque inflammation between patients with acute and non-acute IS. CDT DCE-MRI may be a promising noninvasive tool for accurately assessing large intracranial arterial plaque inflammation.