Synthetic relaxometry combined with MUSE DWI and 3D-pCASL improves detection of hippocampal sclerosis

To investigate the diagnostic value of synthetic MRI combined MUSE DWI and 3D-pCASL in hippocampal sclerosis (HS).

A total of 30 HS patients participated in the study. At the same time, 51 healthy volunteers were collected as the control group. All patients and healthy volunteers underwent epilepsy MR scanning protocol (including oblique coronal MAGiC, MUSE DWI, and axial 3D-pCASL) at 3.0 T MR scanner.The independent samples T test and Mann-Whitney U test were used to compare the differences of the apparent dispersion coefficient(ADC), cerebral blood flow(CBF) and quantitative parameters, including T1 relaxation time (T1), T2 relaxation time (T2), and proton density (PD) values, in the hippocampus of the affected side of HS and the contralateral and control groups, respectively. The diagnostic performance was evaluated using binary logistic regression analysis and area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves (AUC).

Significant statistical differences in T1, T2, CBF, and ADC values were observed between the affected hippocampus of HS patients and contralateral and control hippocampus (all P < 0.005). The T2 has higher discrimination abilities compared with other univariable parameters, with the AUC of 0.899. The combined T2, ADC and CBF model had the best diagnostic performance of HS in MTLE patients with AUC, sensitivity and specificity of 0.946, 86.67 %, 93.33 %, respectively.

Relaxometry parameters derived from synthetic MRI contributed to diagnosis of HS. The proposed approach combining T2, ADC and CBF showed a strong diagnostic capability.