¹⁹F MRI radiomic features: in vitro and in vivo repeatability

Area of Science:

• Medical Imaging
• Radiomics
• Fluorine-19 MRI

Background:

• Quantitative imaging features from radiomics may offer insights beyond standard MRI metrics.
• ¹⁹F MRI enables detection of specific molecular targets and agents.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the test-retest repeatability of ¹⁹F MRI radiomic features in phantoms.
• To validate these findings in a pilot in vivo mouse tumor model.

Main Methods:

• Two perfluorocarbon phantoms (PFPE, PFCE) and a mouse tumor model were scanned using a 7-T ¹⁹F MRI system.
• Radiomic features were extracted and stability assessed using concordance correlation coefficient (CCC) and normalized dynamic range.
• Intrasession and intersession repeatability were evaluated.

Main Results:

• High intrasession repeatability (median CCC up to 0.886) was observed in phantoms, with decreased intersession repeatability (median CCC down to 0.683).
• Intensity features demonstrated higher repeatability than shape or texture features.
• 23.1% of features were repeatable across phantoms, and 86.1% of these remained stable in vivo (~20.0% overall).

Conclusions:

• Several ¹⁹F MRI radiomic features exhibit excellent short-term repeatability.
• A significant proportion of features are robust to intersession variability and physiological conditions.
• These findings support the use of ¹⁹F MRI radiomics for quantitative imaging and reproducible research.