{"doi":"10.21037/qims-24-2124","title":"Qualitative and quantitative reproducibility of 3D MERGE and SNAP sequences for carotid vessel wall imaging across Siemens and Philips 3T scanners","abstract":"Background: Three-dimentional (3D) vessel wall magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) sequences have emerged as new imaging tools for evaluating carotid atherosclerosis. However, their reproducibility across different vendors has not yet been investigated, which not only restricts their use in multicenter studies but also hinders their broader application in clinical practice. In this study, we aim to assess the qualitative and quantitative reproducibility on the same subjects using matched 3D carotid vessel wall MRI sequences on both Siemens and Philips scanners, specifically, 3D motion-sensitized driven equilibrium prepared rapid gradient echo (MERGE) and simultaneous non-contrast angiography and plaque (SNAP) imaging which are two representative 3D vessel wall MRI sequences with superior delineation of vessel wall morphology and carotid plaque. Methods: As a cross-sectional study, six volunteers (1 female and 5 males, age 22-67 years) were scanned at 3T MRI machines of both vendors. Image quality was evaluated by two experienced reviewers using a 4-point scale, and quantitative measurements, including mean/maximum wall thickness and normalized wall/lumen index, were calculated from segmentation masks generated by the 3D localization, analysis, and thickness and tissue evaluation (LATTE) framework and a novel 3D thickness measurement using Laplacian method. Results: There was no significant difference in image quality scores between Siemens and Philips platforms, except in the external carotid artery region. High consistency [intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) >0.75] was obtained between the two platforms for quantitative metrics. Images on one carotid patient on Siemens show good visualization of vessel wall and plaque morphology and detection of intraplaque hemorrhage. Conclusions: 3D MERGE and SNAP images have sufficient image quality and consistent quantitative measurements on Siemens and Philips scanners, despite lower image quality in Siemens platforms, probably due to suboptimal coil configuration or image processing. This suggests the feasibility of evaluating carotid atherosclerosis using matched 3D carotid vessel wall MRI protocols across different MRI vendors.","journal":"Quantitative Imaging in Medicine and Surgery","year":2025,"id":552192,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":1,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9626,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2025-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":1448673,"name":"Kazem Hashemizadeh","orcid":null,"position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1248905,"name":"Halit Akçiçek","orcid":"0009-0006-4341-1856","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":517550,"name":"Seong‐Eun Kim","orcid":"0000-0002-6310-5366","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":391212,"name":"J. Rock Hadley","orcid":"0000-0003-1021-4718","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":769166,"name":"John A. Roberts","orcid":"0000-0002-1786-0969","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":282939,"name":"Xuan Wang","orcid":"0000-0001-8729-167X","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":925602,"name":"Yin Guo","orcid":"0000-0002-6006-9849","position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":420624,"name":"Niranjan Balu","orcid":"0000-0002-1489-6683","position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":441763,"name":"J. Scott McNally","orcid":"0000-0003-3770-1153","position":9,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":388330,"name":"Dennis L. Parker","orcid":"0000-0003-2557-8952","position":10,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":392834,"name":"Chun Yuan","orcid":"0000-0002-6154-5106","position":11,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1448381,"name":"Xiaodong Ma","orcid":"0000-0002-5189-6287","position":12,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1248906,"name":"Ebru Yaman Akçiçek","orcid":"0000-0002-2413-0542","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":0,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T02:54:33.203144Z","pmid":"40235783","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}