[The application of 3D liver acquisition volume acceleration integrated with array spatial sensitivity encoding...

Area of Science:

• Radiology
• Medical Imaging

Background:

• Liver dynamic-enhancement scanning is crucial for diagnosing hepatic lesions.
• Conventional 2D fast spoiled gradient recalled echo (2D-FSPGR) has limitations in speed and sensitivity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the efficacy of 3D liver acquisition volume acceleration (3D-LAVA) combined with array spatial sensitivity encoding (ASSET) for liver dynamic-enhancement MRI.
• To assess its performance in lesion detection and acquisition time reduction compared to conventional methods.

Main Methods:

• 147 patients underwent liver MRI using either 3D-LAVA (n=90) or 2D-FSPGR (n=57).
• ASSET was integrated with 3D-LAVA in 72 patients.
• Portal vein illustration was compared between 3D-LAVA with MIP and contrast-enhanced MR angiography (CE-MRA).

Main Results:

• 3D-LAVA demonstrated higher sensitivity than 2D-FSPGR in detecting metastatic hepatic carcinomas.
• Integration of ASSET with 3D-LAVA enabled acquisition of earlier and peak arterial phase images.
• 3D-LAVA provided comparable visualization of portal vein anatomy to CE-MRA.

Conclusions:

• 3D-LAVA integrated with ASSET significantly shortens acquisition time while yielding high-quality, multi-phase dynamic liver enhancement images.
• This technique enhances lesion detection and visualizes vascular anatomy effectively.