METHOD OF ESTIMATING RISK OF ISCHEMIC IMPAIRMENT OF CEREBRAL BLOOD FLOW Russian patent published in 2015 - IPC A61B5/55 A61K49/06 

FIELD: medicine.

SUBSTANCE: invention is intended for visualising the structure of the atherosclerotic plaque in brachiocephalic arteries in the diagnostics of a risk of ischemic impairment of the cerebral blood flow (IICBF) in patients with extensive atherosclerosis and can be used in radiodiagnostics, neurology and vascular surgery. Contrasting T1-weighed spin-echo MRI of the neck and head area is carried out with thin cuts in the axial plane, 1-3 mm thick, with the compulsory inclusion of the area of the carotid arteries bifurcation, with the introduction of a contrast agent - paramagnet in a dose of 2 mM/10 kg of body weight. The examination is carried out twice: initially and 5-8 min after the introduction of the contrast agent-paramagnetic, an image amplification index (AI) is determined for the area of atherosclerotic plaque as the ratio of intensity of T1-weighed image with contrasting by means of the paramagnetic (IT1WI_contrast) to the intensity of T1-weighed image on the initial (IT1WI_initial) non-contrasting examination AI= IT1WI_contrast/IT1WI_initial. In case of the plaque presence in the area of the internal carotid artery or in the place of its deviation from the general carotid artery and AI value in the area of the said plaque larger than 1.22, risk of the acute IICBF development is predicted.

EFFECT: method provides high self-descriptiveness of MRI method of examination with the visualisation of the structure of the atherosclerotic plaque, identification of the presence of neoangiogenesis, which reliably increase the risk of rupture and ischemic affection of the brain.

8 dwg, 1 ex, 2 tbl