A quantitative comparison between magnetic resonance imaging and histology of atherosclerosis in the carotid artery

Magnetic resonance images (MRI) of human carotid arteries in vitro and the corresponding histological sections are compared both qualitatively and quantitatively. Measurements were made on five planes for two different arteries, one in the early to middle stage of the disease and the other in a late stage. Histology was used as the gold standard for identification of lesions and interpretation of images. The area and center of mass were calculated in each center of interest, and the results from histology and T1- and T2-weighted images were compared using linear regression. The results show that MRI may be useful in characterizing atherosclerotic disease progression. The images contain accurate information about the locations (center of mass) of the lesions within the artery, but yield less reliable information about their sizes and shapes