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Figure 6 Model of Hypothesized Mechanism Underlying Observed Results

Although our work demonstrated similar total iron in symptom-producing versus non–symptom-producing carotid plaques, the former group had less paramagnetic iron by EPR and greater T2*-shortening iron species. This difference suggests a shift from paramagnetic Fe(III) to iron aggregates that have a greater effect on local magnetic susceptibility, measurable using the tissue-specific magnetic resonance imaging relaxation time T2*. Abbreviations as in Figure 4.