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Evaluation of chronic carotid artery occlusion by non-contrast 3D-MERGE MR vessel wall imaging: comparison with 3D-TOF-MRA, contrast-enhanced MRA, and DSA

  • Magnetic Resonance
  • Published:
European Radiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Objectives

To analyze the accuracy of a non-contrast MR vessel wall imaging technique, three-dimensional motion-sensitized driven equilibrium prepared rapid gradient echo (3D-MERGE) for diagnosing chronic carotid artery occlusion (CCAO) characteristics compared with 3D time-of-flight (TOF) MRA, and contrast-enhanced MRA (CE-MRA), using digital subtraction angiography (DSA) as a reference standard.

Methods

Subjects diagnosed with possible CCAO by ultrasound were retrospectively analyzed. Patients underwent 3.0-T MR imaging with 3D-MERGE, 3D-TOF-MRA, and CE-MRA followed by DSA within 1 week. Diagnostic accuracy of occlusion, occlusion site, and proximal stump condition were assessed independently on 3 MRI sequences and DSA. Agreement of the above indicators was evaluated in reference to DSA.

Results

One hundred twenty-four patients with 129 suspected CCAO (5 with bilateral occlusions) met the inclusion criteria for our study. 3D-MERGE demonstrated a sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of 97.0%, 86.7%, and 94.6%, respectively, with excellent agreement (Cohen’s κ = 0.85; 95% CI, 0.71, 0.94) for diagnosing CCAO in reference to DSA. 3D-MERGE was superior in diagnosing CCAO compared with 3D-TOF-MRA (Cohen’s κ = 0.61; 95% CI, 0.42, 0.77) and similar to CE-MRA (Cohen’s κ = 0.93; 95% CI, 0.86, 1.00). 3D-MERGE also had excellent agreement compared with DSA for assessing occlusion sites (Cohen’s κ = 0.85; 95% CI, 0.71, 0.97) and stump condition (Cohen’s κ = 0.83; 95% CI, 0.71, 0.94). Moreover, 3D-MERGE provided additional information regarding the occluded segment, such as distal lumen collapse and vessel wall lesion components.

Conclusion

3D-MERGE can reliably assess chronic carotid occlusive characteristics and has the ability to identify other vessel wall features of the occluded segment. This non-contrast MR vessel wall imaging technique is promising for assessment of CCAO.

Key Points

• Excellent agreement was found between 3D-MERGE and DSA for assessing chronic carotid artery occlusion, occlusion site, and proximal stump condition.

• 3D-MERGE was shown to be a more accurate and efficient tool than 3D-TOF-MRA to detect the characteristics of the occluded segment.

• 3D-MERGE provides not only luminal images for characterizing the proximal characteristics of occlusion but also vessel wall images for assessing the distal lumen and morphology of occlusion segment, which might help clinicians to optimize the treatment strategy for patients with chronic carotid artery occlusion.

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Abbreviations

3D-MERGE:

Three-dimensional motion-sensitized driven equilibrium prepared rapid gradient echo

3D-TOF-MRA:

Three-dimensional time-of-flight magnetic resonance angiography

CCA:

Common carotid artery

CCAO:

Chronic carotid artery occlusion

CE-MRA:

Contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance angiography

CPR:

Curved planar reconstruction

CTA:

Computed tomographic angiography

DSA:

Digital subtraction angiography

ICA:

Internal carotid artery

MIP:

Maximum intensity projection

MRA:

Magnetic resonance angiography

MRI:

Magnetic resonance imaging

SI:

Signal intensity

SNR:

Signal-to-noise ratio

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Funding

This study has received funding from the grants by the Shanghai Municipal Health Commission Project (201940060), Shanghai Jiao Tong University Project (YG2016MS56), Renji Hospital Project (RJZZ18-002, 2019NYBSZX01), and National Natural Science Foundation of China (81571630; 81801650).

Author information

Author notes

  1. Jin Zhang and Shenghao Ding contributed equally to this work and are co-first authors.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, Renji Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai, China

    Jin Zhang, Huilin Zhao, Beibei Sun, Xiao Li, Yan Zhou & Jianrong Xu

  2. Department of Neurosurgery, Renji Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai, China

    Shenghao Ding & Jieqing Wan

  3. Department of Radiology, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Andrew J. Degnan

  4. American Institute for Radiologic Pathology, Silver Spring, MD, USA

    Andrew J. Degnan

  5. Department of Radiology, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Andrew J. Degnan

  6. Department of Radiology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Chengcheng Zhu

Authors
  1. Jin Zhang
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Huilin Zhao or Jianrong Xu.

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Guarantor

The scientific guarantor of this publication is Huilin Zhao, MD, PhD.

Conflict of interest

The authors of this manuscript declare no relationships with any companies, whose products or services may be related to the subject matter of the article.

Statistics and biometry

No complex statistical methods were necessary for this paper.

Informed consent

Written informed consent was obtained from all subjects (patients) in this study.

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Institutional Review Board approval was obtained.

Methodology

• retrospective

• cross-sectional study

• performed at one institution

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Zhang, J., Ding, S., Zhao, H. et al. Evaluation of chronic carotid artery occlusion by non-contrast 3D-MERGE MR vessel wall imaging: comparison with 3D-TOF-MRA, contrast-enhanced MRA, and DSA. Eur Radiol 30, 5805–5814 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-020-06989-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-020-06989-1

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