Quantitative evaluation of carotid atherosclerotic vulnerable plaques using in vivo T1 mapping cardiovascular magnetic resonaonce: validation by histology

Background It has been proved that multi-contrast cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) vessel wall imaging could be used to characterize carotid vulnerable plaque components according to the signal intensity on different contrast images. The signal intensity of plaque components is mainly dependent on the values of T1 and T2 relaxation. T1 mapping recently showed a potential in identifying plaque components but it is not well validated by...