研究者使用3維磁共振成像去準確的發現頸動脈壁上出血，一個會引發中風的情況

當主動脈受到動脈粥樣硬化，脂肪沉積物，和積累在血管壁內部的斑塊的影響。這一系列的疾病隨著時間導致血管窄化，限制血液流動或者導致血管完全被堵塞。直到最近科學研究者相信這種稱之為狹窄的窄化現象是導致大多數心臟病和中風的原因。但是新的研究顯示混合的結構復雜的斑塊是形成脈管病癥和死亡的主因。這些斑塊有表面潰瘍，血塊和在血管壁內出血的特征“在我們的研究中將有一個巨大的改變” 多倫多大學的艾倫.R.穆迪先生談到：“我們現在已經知道頸動脈中混合斑塊可能是導致中風的前兆，并且數量超過血管狹窄?！?BR>這個最新的研究結果提出3-D磁共振成像技術可能被證明能是一種對判斷有高中風風險的患者有用的影像工具。在研究中研究者使用3—D磁共振成像對11名年齡在60-81的頸動脈疾病患者進行了試驗。這些頸動脈斑塊通過手術從這些患者的患病動脈被取出并通過顯微鏡進行了分析。
這個研究小組發現被磁共振識別的病變器官和用顯微鏡分析的組織樣本高度一致?！坝酶叻直媛实?-D磁共振技術，我們可以不通過介入去分析動脈壁內的組織，并發現也許會導致患者中風風險的在斑塊內的細微的出血”穆迪談到。
根據穆迪所介紹，3-D磁共振成像是一個理想用于篩選高風險結構復雜的頸動脈斑塊的患者的工具并且監測介入的影響，減緩動脈粥樣硬化疾病的發展。這項技術可以簡單的被說明和應用。加載到血管造影技術研究只需要幾分鐘的時間。

Diagnosis: 3-D MRI Finds High-Risk Carotid Disease

Researchers have used three-dimensional magnetic resonance imaging (3-D MRI) to accurately detect bleeding within the walls of diseased carotid arteries, a condition that may lead to a stroke.
When major arteries are affected by atherosclerosis, fatty deposit, or plaques, accumulate on the inner lining of the vessel walls. Progression of the disease over time leads to narrowing, restricting blood flow or becoming completely blocked. Until recently, scientists believed that this narrowing, called stenosis, was responsible for most heart attacks or strokes.

But new studies have identified the composition of complicated plaques as being a major cause of vascular events and deaths. These plaques are characterised by surface ulcerations, blood clots and bleeding into the vessel wall. "There's been a major sea change in our research," said Alan R. Moody of the University of Toronto. "We now know that the composition of carotid artery plaque is likely to be more predictive of future stroke events than the amount of stenosis in the vessel."

The results of the new study suggest the 3-D MRI technique may prove to be a useful screening tool for patients at high risk for stroke. In the study, researchers performed 3-D MRI on the carotid arteries of eleven patients, age 69 to 81. Complicated plaques were then surgically removed from the patients' diseased arteries and analysed under a microscope.

The research team found strong agreement between the lesions identified by MRI as complicated plaques and the microscopic analysis of the tissue samples. "With high spatial resolution 3-D MRI, we are able to noninvasively analyse the tissue within the artery wall and identify small bleeds within rupture-prone plaques that may put patients at risk for future stroke," Moody said.

According to Moody, 3-D MRI is a tool that is ideally suited to screen high-risk patients for complicated carotid plaques and to monitor the effect of interventions designed to slow the progress of the atherosclerotic disease. The technique is easy to perform and interpret and takes only a few minutes when added to an MR angiography study, he said.