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(Stroke. 2006;37:767-a.)
© 2006 American Heart Association, Inc.

Letters to the Editor

Magnetic Resonance Direct Thrombus Imaging in Moderate Carotid Artery Stenosis

Lucy R. Daniels, MRCP John R. Gladman, FRCP

Department of Rehabilitation and Ageing, University of Nottingham, Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham, UK

Nishath Altaf, MRCS

Department of Vascular Surgery, University of Nottingham, Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham, UK

Alan R. Moody, FRCR

Department of Radiology, Sunnybrook and Women’s College Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

To the Editor:

Wasserman et al¹ present a proof-of-concept case elegantly demonstrating that high-resolution MRI of carotid plaque can identify a lesion that was highly likely to be causing cerebrovascular symptoms even though it was not causing significant stenosis of the carotid lumen. The authors also acknowledge that acquiring high-resolution MR images is time-consuming and requires the injection of contrast.

We too are interested in using MR techniques to find features of carotid artery plaque related to its biological behavior, rather than simply the degree of stenosis caused by it. We have explored magnetic resonance direct thrombus imaging (MRDTI) on the basis that thrombus associated with plaque is likely to be important in disease progression or to be the crucial final step before plaques give rise to cerebrovascular symptoms.² MRDTI takes only 5.3 minutes to acquire, and no contrast is required, making it potentially more easy to use than high-resolution MRI. MRDTI is sensitive and specific for complicated plaque in symptomatic patients with >70% stenosis coming to carotid endarterectomy.³ We are currently undertaking a longitudinal study of MRDTI in symptomatic patients with lesser degrees of carotid stenosis who, in our center, are not routinely offered carotid endarterectomy. We present the following case from our series which illustrates how this technique, like high-resolution MRI, can be clinically valuable.

Mr G was a 68-year-old man who had 2 episodes of loss of power affecting his right arm in September 2002. Duplex ultrasound (undertaken 10 days after the event) showed 30% to 50% stenosis of the right internal carotid artery. He was managed medically and commenced on an antiplatelet, a statin and an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor. MRDTI was positive in the right internal carotid artery (Figure). In March 2004, he developed sudden weakness of the left arm and leg. An MRI scan the same day showed a stenosis of 60% to 70%, and the MRDTI was again positive in the right carotid artery. He successfully underwent endarterectomy and has had no further symptoms to date. Histology of the endarterectomy specimen demonstrated a ruptured plaque with intraplaque hemorrhage.

View larger version (98K): [in this window] [in a new window]   Hyperintense signal in MRDTI scans of the right carotid artery. The coronal view (A) shows both carotid arteries (thin arrows) and a hyperintense signal (thick arrow) in the plaque of the right carotid artery. The axial view (B) orientated through the carotid bifurcation shows eccentric hyperintense signal (arrow) in the right internal carotid artery.

We postulate that MRDTI of his carotid artery plaque identified symptomatic disease, even though the degree of intraluminal stenosis was below our usual threshold for surgery. MRDTI provides a feasible alternative to high-resolution MRI for this purpose, although we note that the findings of longitudinal studies such as ours are needed.

Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the Healthcare Foundation, UK.

References

1. Wasserman BA, Wityk RJ, Trout HH, Virmani R. Low-grade carotid stenosis. Looking beyond the lumen with MRI. Stroke. 2005; 36: 2504–2513.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
2. Virmani R, Kolodgie FD, Burke AP, Finn AV, Gold HK, Tulenko TN, Wrenn SP, Narula J. Atherosclerotic plaque progression and vulnerability to rupture. Angiogenesis as a source of intraplaque haemorrhage. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol. 2005; 25: 2045–2061.
3. Murphy RE, Moody AR, Morgan PS, Martel AL, Delay GS, Allder S, MacSweeney ST, Tennant WG, Gladman J, Lowe J, Hunt BJ. Prevalence of complicated carotid atheroma as detected by magnetic resonance direct thrombus imaging in patients with suspected carotid artery stenosis and previous acute cerebral ischemia. Circulation. 2003; 107: 3053–3058.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

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