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The purpose of this study was to use DCE MR imaging to quantify the contrast permeability of intracranial atherosclerotic disease plaques in 10 symptomatic patients and to compare these parameters against existing markers of plaque volatility using black-blood MR imaging pulse sequences. K^trans and fractional plasma volume (Vp) measurements were higher in plaques versus healthy white matter and similar or less than values in the choroid plexus. Only K^trans correlated significantly with time from symptom onset. Dynamic contrast-enhanced MR imaging parameters were not found to correlate significantly with intraplaque enhancement or hyperintensity. The authors suggest that K^trans may be an independent imaging biomarker of acute and symptom-associated pathologic changes in intracranial atherosclerotic disease plaques.