Accuracy and precision of quantitative DCE-MRI parameters: How should one estimate contrast concentration?

Pharmacokinetic parameters derived from dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI) data are sensitive to acquisition and post-processing techniques, which makes it difficult to compare results obtained using different methods. In particular, one of the most important factors affecting estimation of model parameters is how to convert MRI signal intensities to contrast agent concentration. The purpose of our study was to quantitatively compare a linear signal-to-concentration conversion (LC) as an approximation and a non-linear conversion (NLC) based on the MRI signal equation, in terms of the accuracy and precision of the pharmacokinetic parameters in T1-weighted DCE-MRI.

Source: Magnetic Resonance Imaging - May 17, 2018 Category: Radiology Authors: Nicole Wake, Hersh Chandarana, Henry Rusinek, Koji Fujimoto, Linda Moy, Daniel K. Sodickson, Sungheon Gene Kim Tags: Technical note Source Type: research