Classification of human coronary atherosclerotic plaques using ex vivo high-resolution multicontrast-weighted MRI compared with histopathology.

OBJECTIVE. The objective of our study was to evaluate the feasibility of ex vivo high-resolution multicontrast-weighted MRI to accurately classify human coronary atherosclerotic plaques according to the American Heart Association classification. MATERIALS AND METHODS. Thirteen human cadaver heart specimens were imaged using high-resolution multicontrast-weighted MR technique (T1-weighted, proton density–weighted, and T2-weighted). All MR images were matched with histopathologic sections according to the landmark of the bifurcation of the left main coronary artery. The sensitivity and specificity of MRI for the classification of plaques were determined, and Cohen’s kappa analysis was applied to evaluate the agreement between MRI and histopathology in the classification of atherosclerotic plaques. RESULTS. One hundred eleven MR cross-sectional images obtained perpendicular to the long axis of the proximal left anterior descending artery were successfully matched with the histopathologic sections. For the cl...