The proton relaxation times of autopsy samples of arterial intima-media were measured with an NMR spectrometer and results correlated to the microscopically estimated lipid content of the vascular wall. The normal arterial intima-media contained two T1 relaxation components. The short T1 component (T1s) was 90 +/- 13 ms and its relative weight was 11%. The long T1 component (T1l) was 523 +/- 89 ms and relative weight 88%, respectively. The average T2 was 99 +/- 18 ms. In diseased vessels, a positive correlation was found between the lipid content of the vessel wall and the relaxation rate of the fast component. T1s of the intima-media was significantly shorter (P less than .01) in severe atheromatosis compared with vessels without fat deposition. The results suggest that atheromatous lesions should be best highlighted in spin-echo images by using short TR and TE to suppress the influence of T1l and to avoid (noncontrast contributing) T2 decay of the signal intensity.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Soila et al. (1986) studied this question.