MR spectroscopy of cholesteryl ester in human atherosclerosis.

The ability to quantify cholesterol and/or cholesteryl ester deposits in vivo noninvasively, a goal not yet achieved, could greatly facilitate new discoveries in atherosclerosis progression and regression. In this issue of iJACC, Duivenvoorden et al. (1) report progress in a H-magnetic resonance (MR) spectroscopic technique that samples an approximate 5-mm cubic voxel in the region of the carotid artery in humans. Using cholesteryl linoleate and triolein as representative standards for cholesteryl ester and triglyceride, respectively, they suggest that the ratio of cholesteryl ester to triglyceride can be quantified and correlated with plaque tissue volume versus perivascular tissue volume in the voxel of interest. However, only one-half of the MR spectra obtained were of adequate quality for analysis.