Motivation: High-resolution vessel wall imaging offers a non-invasive approach to assess intracranial and extracranial atherosclerotic plaque enhancement, potentially predicting stroke risk. Goal(s): We hypothesize that 5.0T MRI provides superior visualization of atherosclerotic plaque and can reliably predict stroke occurrence. Approach: This study examined the plaque-to-pituitary stalk contrast ratio (CR) in 43 patients, the CR was calculated, and stroke occurrence was recorded. Patients were divided into a stroke group and a non-stroke group based on stroke incidence. Results: This study found a significant correlation between higher CR values and stroke occurrence. With an AUC of 0.787, CR demonstrates promising predictive accuracy for stroke. Impact: This finding provides valuable insights for early identification and risk assessment of high-risk stroke patients, supporting more timely and targeted preventive measures to reduce stroke incidence. Further studies with larger sample sizes are warranted to confirm and refine these findings.
Zhu et al. (Tue,) studied this question.