Observational Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2017. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Radiol. Feb 28, 2017; 9(2): 79-84
Published online Feb 28, 2017. doi: 10.4329/wjr.v9.i2.79
Feasibility of imaging superficial palmar arch using micro-ultrasound, 7T and 3T magnetic resonance imaging
Alison N Pruzan, Audrey E Kaufman, Claudia Calcagno, Yu Zhou, Zahi A Fayad, Venkatesh Mani
Alison N Pruzan, Audrey E Kaufman, Claudia Calcagno, Yu Zhou, Zahi A Fayad, Venkatesh Mani, Translational and Molecular Imaging Institute, Department of Radiology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, United States
Author contributions: Pruzan AN, Kaufman AE and Mani V designed the study and performed the research; Zhou Y helped perform the research and helped acquire ultrasound data; Calcagno C provided her imaging expertise and helped with MRI acquisition; Pruzan AN and Kaufman AE drafted the article and made critical revisions related to the intellectual content of the manuscript; Fayad ZA and Mani V helped with data analysis and interpretation; all authors reviewed and approved the manuscript content; Pruzan AN and Kaufman AE contributed equally to this research.
Institutional review board statement: This study was conducted in conformance with institutional policies with regard to human subject protections after informed consent and ethical permission were obtained.
Conflict-of-interest statement: There are no conflicts of interest to disclose.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Venkatesh Mani, PhD, Translational and Molecular Imaging Institute, Department of Radiology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, 1470 Madison Avenue New York, NY 10029, United States. venkatesh.mani@mssm.edu
Telephone: +1-212-8248538
Received: October 8, 2016
Peer-review started: October 10, 2016
First decision: December 13, 2016
Revised: December 17, 2016
Accepted: January 11, 2017
Article in press: January 14, 2017
Published online: February 28, 2017
Abstract
AIM

To demonstrate feasibility of vessel wall imaging of the superficial palmar arch using high frequency micro-ultrasound, 7T and 3T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

METHODS

Four subjects (ages 22-50 years) were scanned on a micro-ultrasound system with a 45-MHz transducer (Vevo 2100, VisualSonics). Subjects’ hands were then imaged on a 3T clinical MR scanner (Siemens Biograph MMR) using an 8-channel special purpose phased array carotid coil. Lastly, subjects’ hands were imaged on a 7T clinical MR scanner (Siemens Magnetom 7T Whole Body Scanner) using a custom built 8-channel transmit receive carotid coil. All three imaging modalities were subjectively analyzed for image quality and visualization of the vessel wall.

RESULTS

Results of this very preliminary study indicated that vessel wall imaging of the superficial palmar arch was feasible with a whole body 7T and 3T MRI in comparison with micro-ultrasound. Subjective analysis of image quality (1-5 scale, 1: poorest, 5: best) from B mode, ultrasound, 3T SPACE MRI and 7T SPACE MRI indicated that the image quality obtained at 7T was superior to both 3T MRI and micro-ultrasound. The 3D SPACE sequence at both 7T and 3T MRI with isotropic voxels allowed for multi-planar reformatting of images and allowed for less operator dependent results as compared to high frequency micro-ultrasound imaging. Although quantitative analysis revealed that there was no significant difference between the three methods, the 7T Tesla trended to have better visibility of the vessel and its wall.

CONCLUSION

Imaging of smaller arteries at the 7T is feasible for evaluating atherosclerosis burden and may be of clinical relevance in multiple diseases.

Keywords: Superficial Palmar Arch, 7T and 3T magnetic resonance imaging, Micro-ultrasound, Atherosclerosis, Cardiovascular disease

Core tip: The evaluation of smaller arteries in the hand may be clinically useful in a variety of vascular diseases. Imaging the vessel wall of such small caliber arteries (2.5 mm to 3.1 mm) requires very high spatial resolution and the use of either high frequency micro-ultrasound or 7 Tesla magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) would be the ideal tool to acquire these images. We sought to demonstrate feasibility of vessel wall imaging of the superficial palmar arch using 7T and 3T MRI in comparison with very high frequency micro-ultrasound.