Aim of the study. We have compared in patients with carotid atherosclerosis the patterns of contrast enhancement of atherosclerotic plaque with presence of cerebral stroke, by using of high-resolution contrast-enhanced carotid MRI.Material and methods. The patients 'population comprised 26 persons with either monolateral (14 pts) or bilateral (12 pts) stenosis of internal carotid artery for over 70% of lumen. In 15 (10-monolateral, 5 bilateral stenosis) there was recent stroke in acute or subacute stage, whereas 11 were symptom-free. In everybody contrast-enhanced study of atherosclerotic plaque was carried out with T1-w high-resolution MRI (paramagnetic as 2 ml of 0.5 mol solution per 10 kg of BW).Results and discussion. In control persons there was a mild increase in T1-w intensity of arterial wall of carotids? With IE not more than 1.08. In patients without stroke there was moderate increase in plaque T-1w intensity up to 1.14 ± 0.07. In ishaemic stroke patients there was significant rise in intensity of T1-w of homolateral plaque (IE = 1.35 ± 0.06), and also of T1-w of arterial wall as whole (IE = 1.19 ± 0.05).Conclusion. Further detailed study of high-resolution MRI of carotids is worth in order to obtain better imaging of atherosclerotic lesions and also better evaluation of risk of stroke in patients suitable for carotid endarterectomy.