Association of carotid atherosclerosis eccentricity with high risk plaque features: An MRI study

Introduction Identifying patients with carotid atherosclerosis at risk for ischemic stoke would greatly benefit patient outcomes. Recently, high-resolution methods have enabled MRI to noninvasively image the fine internal structure of the carotid plaque [1]. Some carotid plaque features, such as the presence of intraplaque hemorrhage (IPH) and thin or ruptured fibrous cap on multi-contrast weighted MR imaging, have been reported to be predictors of subsequent stroke [2]. However, multi-contrast weighted MRI requires a long scan time. On the other hand, some simple morphology characteristics of carotid atherosclerosis are believed to be indicators of high risk plaque. Among those characteristics, plaque eccentricity of carotid artery has recently been found to be associated with ipsilateral cerebrovascular events in an ultrasonography study [3]. In this study, we sought to explore the contribution of plaque eccentricity to identify high-risk plaque features in carotid artery by MRI.