Vessel Wall Imaging Study
Research type
Research Study
Full title
3 Tesla Intracranial vessel wall imaging using High-Resolution Magnetic Resonance Imaging (HRMRI); a feasibility study
IRAS ID
181735
Contact name
Martin Punter
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 11 months, 30 days
Research summary
Intracranial arterial disease is an increasingly recognised cause of illness including stroke. There are a number of different causes (pathologies) including arteriosclerosis (clogging of the arteries), inflammation or disease of the blood vessels as a result of infection or radiation and traumatic damage to the blood vessel wall (dissection).
The current gold standard for imaging the intracranial circulation uses angiography where a contrast dye is first injected into the circulation to allow the blood vessels to show up on x-ray imaging (computed tomography; CT or magnetic resonance imaging; MRI). However, these are time-consuming and may require exposure to radiation. Other techniques such as transcranial Doppler that do not require radiation or contrast agents but use ultrasound to measure blood flow through a blood vessel are far less sensitive and are limited to imaging inside of the blood vessel (lumen). None of the current imaging techniques show changes within the blood vessel wall which can impact on blood flow through the vessel.
High-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (HRMRI) has recently been shown by a number of groups to be capable of imaging the intracranial arterial wall which may be a more reliable technique to demonstrate causes of intracranial arterial disease.
There is therefore the potential for this technique to become a valuable addition to the diagnosis of complex cases and lead to a better understanding of disease mechanism in stroke patients.We aim to recruit up to 10 patients with a diagnosis of intracerebral arterial disease to assess the feasibility and reliability of HRMRI in this population and assess the sensitivity of the technique in imaging the vessel wall in different pathologies.
REC name
North West - Greater Manchester East Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/NW/0482
Date of REC Opinion
8 Jul 2015
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion