Development of an MRI method for evaluating the carotid-arteriosclerosis pathologies

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24591746
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Radiation science
• Research Institution: Tohoku University
• Principal Investigator: TAMURA Hajime 東北大学, 医学(系)研究科(研究院), 非常勤講師 (20333817)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): OTA Hideki 東北大学, 病院, 助教 (40586905) ; NAKAMURA Yasuhiro 東北大学, 大学院医学系研究科, 准教授 (80396499) ; 梅田 みか (WATANABE Mika) 東北大学, 病院, 准教授 (20292344) ; YOSHMURA Shinichi 岐阜大学, 医学(系)研究科(研究院), 准教授 (40240353)
• Research Collaborator: OBARA Makoto
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 動脈硬化 / 動脈プラーク / MRI / 緩和時間 / 拡散係数 / プラークイメージング

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Carotid-plaque tissue characterization has an important role for patients’ management. Main characteristics of vulnerable plaque includes thin fibrous cap with large lipid-rich/necrotic core, active inflammation, fissured plaque, intraplaque hemorrhage. This study showed that combination of apparent diffusion coefficient and longitudinal relaxation time obtained by MRI can differentiate lipid-rich/necrotic core, intraplaque hemorrhage and fibrous tissue.
A tool running on PC with a commercial software was made for MRI-virtual histology: giving an image depicting the three tissue components based on the MRI data.

Free Research Field

神経放射線診断学