Fig 1.
Angiographic classification of Takayasu arteritis.
The dotted lines refer to the diaphragms.
Fig 2.
(a) Representative pre-contrast image with color map. (b) Representative pre-contrast image. (c) Representative post-contrast image with color map. The site of the aortic wall site with the highest SI was determined using this image. (d) Representative post-contrast image. SI, signal intensity; LGE, late gadolinium enhancement.
Table 1.
Patient characteristics.
Fig 3.
Comparison of the distribution of Takayasu arteritis according to angiography and LGE.
(a) Comparisons in patients with active disease. (b) Comparisons in patients with inactive disease. The numbers and percentages of patients included in each classification type are presented in the left and right columns (arabic numerals). Lines connect the angiographic classification (roman numerals in the left column) with the LGE distribution classification (roman numerals in the right column). The number on the line and thickness of the line reflect the number of patients with each type of disease classification. For example, eight patients in panel (a) were classified as having Type I disease according to the angiographic classification and Type V disease according to the LGE classification. The LGE distribution was identical or larger than the angiographic disease distribution in 100% and 93% of patients with active and inactive disease, respectively. LGE, late gadolinium enhancement.
Fig 4.
Comparisons of MRI parameters between patients with Active and Inactive patients.
Dots on box plots represent the distribution of cases. (a) (b) (c) Comparisons of pre-SNR, post-SNR, and SNR increment. (d) (e) (f) Comparisons of pre-CNR, post-CNR, and CNR increment. No statistically significant difference in any MRI parameter was observed between the groups. SNR: signal-to-noise ratio, CNR: contrast-to-noise ratio.
Fig 5.
Bland-Altman plot of intra-observer and inter-observer analyses.
(a) Intra-observer variability of SNR increment analysis. (b) Intra-observer variability of CNR increment analysis. (c) Inter-observer variability of SNR increment analysis. (d) Inter-observer variability of CNR increment analysis. Good reproducibility of both intra- and inter-observer analyses was observed. SNR, signal-to-noise ratio; CNR, contrast-to-noise ratio.