Using mDixon to remove motion artifacts in carotid artery vessel wall MRI

Abstract

Background Black blood carotid artery wall imaging can evaluate not just atherosclerotic plaque burden but also high risk components like lipid core and intraplaque hemorrhage. A current limitation in its clinical application, however, is its susceptibility to motion artifacts caused by involuntary motions like swallowing, coughing and breathing. Due to the natural bright signal from subcutaneous fat, unsuppressed fat signal contributes to the majority of motion artifacts in the carotid artery wall region. The fat signal cannot always be properly suppressed using spectrally selective RF pulses due to magnetic field inhomogeneities. Modified Dixon (mDixon) technique, however, is less susceptible to field inhomogeneities because it can separate fat signal without relying on the absolute frequency of the fat spectral. The aim of this study is to explore the feasibility of using mDixon techniques to better separate the strong fat signal and thus reduce motion artifacts near carotid wall region. Methods