Temporal Changes on Postgadolinium MR Vessel Wall Imaging Captures Enhancement Kinetics of Intracranial Atherosclerotic Plaques and Aneurysms.

Using standard MR vessel wall imaging techniques, our results demonstrate the effects of gadolinium contrast uptake kinetics in ICAD-Ps and IA-Ws with extended accumulating enhancement into the delayed phase (> 15 minutes) as opposed to normal anatomic reference structures that conversely exhibit decreasing enhancement. Because these relative differences are used to assess qualitative patterns of ICAD-P and IA-W enhancement, our findings highlight the importance of standardizing acquisition time points and MR vessel wall imaging protocols to interpret pathologic enhancement for the risk stratification of cerebrovascular pathologies.