Intracranial Plaque Imaging Using High-Resolution Magnetic Resonance Imaging: A Pictorial Review

Intracranial atherosclerotic disease is normally detected by hemodynamically relevant intracranial stenosis using luminography-based methods. However, from the extracranial study, it is well known that lumen diameter can be maintained due to remodeling of the arteries in spite of wall thickening (Glagov et al., 1987), suggesting conventional luminography-based methods might underestimate atherosclerotic disease. Arenillas (Arenillas, 2001) summarized limitations of conventional approach. First, it only detects advanced stage of intracranial atherosclerotic disease with luminal narrowing. Second, it cannot provide the histopathologic information of the intracranial atherosclerotic plaque. Third, it is unable to differentiate atherostenosis from stenosis caused by other entities.