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Published on: December 15, 2014
Feasibility of accelerated whole-body diffusion-weighted imaging using a deep learning-based noise-reduction
Taku Tajima1, Hiroyuki Akai2, Haruto Sugawara3
1Department of Radiology, International University of Health and Welfare Mita Hospital, 1-4-3 Mita, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108-8329, Japan; Department of Radiology, International University of Health and Welfare Narita Hospital, 852 Hatakeda Narita, Chiba 286-0124, Japan.
Purpose:
To assess the possibility of reducing the image acquisition time for diffusion-weighted whole-body imaging with background body signal suppression (DWIBS) by denoising with deep learning-based reconstruction (dDLR).
Methods:
Seventeen patients with prostate cancer who underwent DWIBS by 1.5 T magnetic resonance imaging with a number of excitations of 2 (NEX2) and 8 (NEX8) were prospectively enrolled. The NEX2 image data were processed by dDLR (dDLR-NEX2), and the NEX2, dDLR-NEX2, and NEX8 image data were analyzed. In qualitative analysis, two radiologists rated the perceived coarseness, conspicuity of metastatic lesions (lymph nodes and bone), and overall image quality. The contrast-to-noise ratios (CNRs), contrast ratios, and mean apparent diffusion coefficients (ADCs) of metastatic lesions were calculated in a quantitative analysis.
Results:
The image acquisition time of NEX2 was 2.8 times shorter than that of NEX8 (3 min 30 s vs 9 min 48 s). The perceived coarseness and overall image quality scores reported by both readers were significantly higher for dDLR-NEX2 than for NEX2 (P = 0.005-0.040). There was no significant difference between dDLR-NEX2 and NEX8 in the qualitative analysis. The CNR of bone metastasis was significantly greater for dDLR-NEX2 than for NEX2 and NEX8 (P = 0.012 for both comparisons). The contrast ratios and mean ADCs were not significantly different among the three image types.
Conclusions:
dDLR improved the image quality of DWIBS with NEX2. In the context of lymph node and bone metastasis evaluation with DWIBS in patients with prostate cancer, dDLR-NEX2 has potential to be an alternative to NEX8 and reduce the image acquisition time.
