Rui Li1, Chun Yuan, 12
1Center for Biomedical Imaging Research, School of Medicine, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China; 2Department of Radiology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States
Visualization of fibrous cap in atherosclerotic plaque is critical for plaque imaging, since thin fibrous cap means vulnerable plaque. Several studies have shown the capability of high resolution MRf imaging to discriminate fibrous cap and lipid rich necrotic core. However the minimum thickness can be seen has not been investigated yet. This study proposed to find out the answer using a home-designed phantom. In conclusion we found fibrous cap thinner than the acquisition resolution is hardly to be seen with 1/2 contrast hypnosis between fibrous cap and necrotic core.