Comment on “The use of high-resolution MRI to detect thrombosis and lipid-rich carotid artery plaques in a patient with homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia”Dear Editor,
We are glad to read this very valuable article entitled “The use of high-resolution MRI to detect thrombosis and lipid-rich carotid artery plaques in a patient with homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia.” which published in Revista da Associação Médica Brasileira1. They found that high-resolution multi-contrast MRI played an excellent role in identifying carotid plaque components in a patient with homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HoFH). The authors indicate that data on carotid plaque burden may provide some information to patients with HoFH. The conclusions of their study are important for early screening of future arterial lipid plaques. But in my opinion, there are still some issues that deserve further discussion. In my opinion, we should combine a large number of relevant clinical cases to verify it.
It is novel and innovative to use high-resolution MRI testing plaque histology of patients with HoFH. Although the diagnostic accuracy of MRI is superior to CT in detecting thymomas2, in this study, the conclusion that only one patient was followed up was unreliable, and this study should be an empirical report. Large samples of clinical queue studies are necessary if accurate conclusions are to be reached.
The authors do not describe some of the shortcomings or shortcomings of screening with MRI. For example, MRI screening results in higher pharmaceutical costs, so MRI is not yet a conventional screening tool. A simpler technique should be explored in future research.
REFERENCES
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1 Wang Z, Liu W, Jiang L, Wang L, Yu W. The use of high-resolution MRI to detect thrombosis and lipid-rich carotid artery plaques in a patient with homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia. Rev Assoc Med Bras (1992). 2020;66(1):31-5. https://doi.org/10.1590/1806-9282.66.1.31
» https://doi.org/10.1590/1806-9282.66.1.31 -
2 Li HR, Gao J, Jin C, Jiang JH, Ding JY. Comparison between CT and MRI in the diagnostic accuracy of thymic masses. J Cancer. 2019;10(14):3208-13. https://doi.org/10.7150/jca.30240
» https://doi.org/10.7150/jca.30240
