Abstract 2246: Coronary Arterial Positive Remodeling Detected by MRI: The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA)
The purpose of this study was to determine the ability of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to detect early changes of coronary atherosclerotic remodeling. Positive remodeling is associated with plaque vulnerability and rupture. 179 subjects (90 men, age 61±9 yrs) free of clinical cardiovascular disease underwent cross-sectional coronary wall MRI using a black blood technique. Outer contour area (“vessel size”), lumen area, and mean vessel wall thickness were obtained. Linear regression was used to determine the correlations of mean wall thickness with outer contour area or lumen area before and after adjustment for body size parameters. The outer contour area increased with increasing mean wall thickness (p<0.0001). Lumen area also increased, but at a smaller rate than outer contour area (p<0.0001). When men and women were examined separately (Figure ), the relationships continued to be significant (P<0.0001 and 0.05 respectively) with no differences in these relationships between men and women. When vessel size was normalized by LV size or body mass index, the relationships remained significant, and the relative slopes were similar to that in the non-normalized model. The positive correlations between outer contour area and vessel wall thickness remained significant for each coronary bed (right, left main, left anterior descending) individually.