Abstract 10309: Susceptibility-Weighted Imaging is Not Inferior to CT in Detecting Intracranial Vertebral Artery Calcification

Abstract

Susceptibility-Weighted Imaging is not inferior to CT in detecting intracranial vertebral artery calcification Hon-Man Liu. Department of Medical Imaging, Fu-Jen Catholic University Hospital, Fu-Jen Catholic University, New Taipei City, Taiwan Introduction: Microcalcification is vulnerable and ready to rupture, and macrocalcification is more stable. CT is more sensitive to detect calcification than conventional MR. We demonstrated that the advance MR technique, susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI), is not inferior to CT in detecting calcification of intracranial vertebral artery. Hypothesis: Susceptibility-weighted imaging can detect paramagnetic blood clots and diamagnetic calcification. Materials and methods: We reviewed the patients’ brain SWI imaging between January 2021 to March 2022 in our institute. The inclusion criteria were patients had SWI and brain CT done within 3 months. The exclusion criteria were poor imaging quality, insufficient study, and incomplete study. We defined that vessel wall calcification as void signal on SWI and hyper-attenuation (> or =100 HU) on CT. We compared the incidence and location of the calcification shown on CT and the void signal on SWI in the intracranial vertebral artery wall. Results: A total of 817 patients is eligible for this study. They were aged between 25 years to 90 years old and 393 were females. A 3.0T MR scanner was used in 486 patients, and 1.5T in 331. On CT, intracranial vertebral artery calcification was shown in 613 vertebral arteries. Susceptibility-weighted imaging could depict 98.5% (n=604) void signal at the corresponding intracranial vertebral artery segment shown on CT. Void signal on SWI is conspicuous in 12 foci that not shown as hyper-attenuation on CT. Conclusion: Susceptibility-weighted imaging is not inferior to CT in detecting intracranial vertebral artery calcification. SWI can play a role in the research about intracranial atherosclerosis in the future.