Journal of cardiovascular magnetic resonance : official journal of the Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance
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J Cardiovasc Magn Reson · Mar 2019
Observational StudyMicrovasculature and intraplaque hemorrhage in atherosclerotic carotid lesions: a cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging study.
The presence of intraplaque haemorrhage (IPH) has been related to plaque rupture, is associated with plaque progression, and predicts cerebrovascular events. However, the mechanisms leading to IPH are not fully understood. The dominant view is that IPH is caused by leakage of erythrocytes from immature microvessels. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether there is an association between atherosclerotic plaque microvasculature and presence of IPH in a relatively large prospective cohort study of patients with symptomatic carotid plaque. ⋯ A reduced vessel wall Ktrans is found in the presence of IPH. Thus, we did not find a positive association between plaque microvasculature and IPH several weeks after a cerebrovascular event. Not only leaky plaque microvessels, but additional factors may contribute to IPH development.