High temporal resolution dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI using compressed sensing-combined sequence in quantitative...

Area of Science:

• Magnetic Resonance Imaging
• Medical Imaging Technology
• Renal Physiology

Background:

• Dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI) is crucial for assessing kidney function.
• Improving temporal resolution in DCE-MRI is essential for accurate perfusion analysis.
• Compressed sensing (CS) offers potential for accelerating MRI acquisition.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the feasibility of a CS-combined 3D pulse sequence for kidney DCE-MRI.
• To assess the impact of CS on temporal resolution and image quality.
• To investigate the quantitative accuracy of renal perfusion measurements using CS-accelerated DCE-MRI.

Main Methods:

• Ten rabbits underwent accelerated DCE-MRI using a CS-combined 3D pulse sequence.
• Image quality was assessed by comparing signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) between CS and full sampling.
• Renal perfusion was estimated using a separable compartmental model in both simulated and real CS acquisitions.

Main Results:

• CS-enhanced DCE-MRI demonstrated improved temporal resolution and diagnostically acceptable contrast.
• Significantly higher SNR was observed with CS at 2-, 3-, and 4-X acceleration (p<.01).
• Renal perfusion measurements showed high agreement with full sampling in simulations (CCC=0.95-0.88) and no significant differences in realistic acquisitions (p>.05).

Conclusions:

• CS-combined 3D sequences enhance temporal resolution for kidney DCE-MRI.
• The technique yields diagnostically acceptable image quality.
• CS-accelerated DCE-MRI provides effective and accurate renal perfusion measurements.