J Stroke.  2015 Sep;17(3):238-255. 10.5853/jos.2015.17.3.238.

Vessel Wall Imaging of the Intracranial and Cervical Carotid Arteries

• Choi YJ
• Jung SC
• Lee DH

• KMID: 2381489
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.5853/jos.2015.17.3.238

Abstract

Vessel wall imaging can depict the morphologies of atherosclerotic plaques, arterial walls, and surrounding structures in the intracranial and cervical carotid arteries beyond the simple luminal changes that can be observed with traditional luminal evaluation. Differentiating vulnerable from stable plaques and characterizing atherosclerotic plaques are vital parts of the early diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of stroke and the neurological adverse effects of atherosclerosis. Various techniques for vessel wall imaging have been developed and introduced to differentiate and analyze atherosclerotic plaques in the cervical carotid artery. High-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (HR-MRI) is the most important and popular vessel wall imaging technique for directly evaluating the vascular wall and intracranial artery disease. Intracranial artery atherosclerosis, dissection, moyamoya disease, vasculitis, and reversible cerebral vasoconstriction syndrome can also be diagnosed and differentiated by using HR-MRI. Here, we review the radiologic features of intracranial artery disease and cervical carotid artery atherosclerosis on HR-MRI and various other vessel wall imaging techniques (e.g., ultrasound, computed tomography, magnetic resonance, and positron emission tomography-computed tomography).

Keyword

Vessel wall imaging; Intracranial artery; Cervical carotid artery; High-resolution magnetic resonance

MeSH Terms

Arteries
Atherosclerosis
Carotid Arteries*
Early Diagnosis
Electrons
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Moyamoya Disease
Phenobarbital
Plaque, Atherosclerotic
Stroke
Ultrasonography
Vasculitis
Vasoconstriction
Phenobarbital