Magnetic Particle Imaging for Quantification of Vascular Stenoses: A Phantom Study

Magnetic particle imaging (MPI) is a promising new tomographic imaging method to detect the spatial distribution of superparamagnetic iron-oxide nanoparticles (SPIOs). The aim of this paper was to investigate the potential of MPI to quantify artificial stenoses in vessel phantoms. Custom-made stenosis phantoms (length 40 mm; inner diameter 8 mm) with different degrees of stenosis (0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100%) were scanned in a custom-built MPI scanner (in-plane resolution: ~1-1.5 mm and field of view: 65 29 29 mm³). Phantoms were filled with diluted Feru-carbotran [SPIO agent, 5 mmol (Fe)/l]. Each measurement (overall acquisition time: 20 ms per image, 400 averages) was repeated ten times to assess reproducibility. The MPI signal was used for semi-automatic stenosis quantification. Two stenosis evaluation approaches were compared based on the signal intensity profile alongside the stenosis phantoms. Using a novel multi-step image evaluation approach, MPI allowed for accurate quantification of different stenosis grades. While low grade stenoses were slightly over-estimated, high grade stenoses were slightly underestimated. In particular, the 0%, 25%, and 50% stenosis phantoms revealed a 6.2% ± 0.8, 25.7% ± 1.0, and 48.0% ± 1.5 stenosis, respectively. The higher grade 75% stenosis phantom revealed a 73.3% ± 2.8 and the 100% stenosis phantom a 95.8%± 1.9 stenosis. MPI accurately visualized and quantified different stenosis grades in vessel phantoms with high reproducibility demonstrating its great potential for fast and radiation-free preclinical cardiovascular imaging.