- AI
- Molecular Imaging
- CT
- X-Ray
- Ultrasound
- MRI
- Facility Management
- Mammography
How MRI Can Provide CVD Risk Assessment
MRI measuring carotid artery wall thickness could aid in cardiovascular disease risk assessment.
Measuring common carotid artery (CCA) wall thickness using MR imaging improves cardiovascular disease risk assessment among patients with no known risk factors, according to a study published in the journal Radiology.
Researchers from Maryland, New York, Wisconsin, Massachusetts, and California performed a prospective study to compare CCA measured manually by ultrasound and semiautomatically with MR imaging, and to examine their associations with incident coronary heart disease and stroke.
“The carotid artery serves as window into the cardiovascular system,” lead author Bruce A. Wasserman, MD, from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, said in a release. “Plaque developing in the carotid artery can contribute directly to a stroke, and its features-which determine its vulnerability to rupture-are closely related to those found in coronary artery plaque in the same patients.”
A total of 698 subjects with no history of clinical cardiovascular disease (CVD) participated in the trial. The mean age for men was 63.2 years and for women, 63.7 years; 55.4% of the subjects were men. All subjects underwent ultrasound and noncontrast proton-density–weighted and IV gadolinium-enhanced MRI.
Related article: CT Angiography Plus CT Perfusion May Predict Cardiovascular Events
The results showed the adjusted hazard ratios for coronary heart disease, stroke, and CVD associated with per standard deviation increase in intima-media thickness were 1.10, 1.08, and 1.14, respectively. The corresponding associations for mean wall thickness measured with proton-density–weighted MRI were 1.32, 1.48, and 1.37; and for mean wall thickness measured with gadolinium-enhanced MRI were 1.27, 1.58, and 1.38. When included simultaneously in the same model, MRI wall thickness, but not intima-media thickness, remained associated with outcomes.
“What we saw was surprising,” Wasserman says. “MRI measures of carotid artery wall thickness were more consistently associated with cardiovascular events than was intima-media thickness using ultrasound. This tells us that perhaps MRI could be a better predictor of cardiovascular events, especially stroke.”
Wasserman cautioned that more research is needed to define how much MRI can add to the predictive models currently in use. “We’ve come a long way with MRI techniques and their ability to discriminate the carotid artery wall and assess adventitia thickness,” he says. “Ultrasound has also improved, and we want to be able study cardiovascular risk and carotid artery thickness using these contemporary techniques.”
New Literature Review Assesses Merits of Cardiac MRI After Survival of Sudden Cardiac Arrest
April 19th 2024While noting inconsistencies with the diagnostic yield of cardiac MRI in patients who survived sudden cardiac arrest, researchers cited unique advantages in characterizing ischemic cardiomyopathy (ICM) and facilitating alternate diagnoses.
Study of Ofatumumab for Multiple Sclerosis Shows 'Profoundly Suppressed MRI Lesion Activity'
April 17th 2024The use of continuous ofatumumab in patients within three years of a relapsing multiple sclerosis diagnosis led to substantial reductions in associated lesions on brain MRI scans, according to research recently presented at the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) conference.
MRI-Based AI Model Shows Promise in Predicting Lymph Node Metastasis with Breast Cancer
April 15th 2024For the prediction of axillary lymph node metastasis in patients with breast cancer, an MRI-based, 4D convolutional neural network model demonstrated an AUC of 87 percent and sensitivity of 89 percent, according to new research.
