Early identification of aortic valve sclerosis using iron oxide enhanced MRI.

Purpose: To test the ability of MION-47 enhanced MRI to identify tissue macrophage infiltration in a rabbit model of aortic valve sclerosis (AVS).

Materials And Methods: The aortic valves of control and cholesterol-fed New Zealand White rabbits were imaged in vivo pre- and 48 h post-intravenous administration of MION-47 using a 1.5 Tesla (T) MR clinical scanner and a CINE fSPGR sequence.

Comparison of gadofluorine-M and Gd-DTPA for noninvasive staging of atherosclerotic plaque stability using MRI.

Background: Inflammation and neovascularization play critical roles in the stability of atherosclerotic plaques. Whole-body quantitative assessment of these plaque features may improve patient risk-stratification for life-threatening thromboembolic events and direct appropriate intervention. In this report, we determined the utility of the MR contrast agent gadofluorine-M (GdF) for staging plaque stability and compared this to the conventional agent Gd-DTPA.