Combined ADC and T₂ Mapping in the Prostate Using a 3D Reduced FOV Sequence

Area of Science:

• Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
• Medical Physics
• Prostate Imaging

Background:

• Accurate prostate imaging requires reliable methods for apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) and T2 mapping.
• Current techniques often involve multiple scans or reduced field-of-view (rFOV) methods with limitations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a novel 3D reduced FOV MRI sequence for simultaneous ADC and T2 mapping in the prostate within a single acquisition.
• To assess the accuracy and performance of the proposed sequence compared to established methods.

Main Methods:

• A 3D reduced FOV sequence incorporating T2 and diffusion preparation modules was developed.
• Techniques including slab-selective tip-down pulses, magnitude stabilizer gradients, and 2D phase navigators were employed.
• Mono-exponential fitting was used for ADC and T2 quantification, with phantom and in vivo validation against reference sequences.

Main Results:

• Phantom T2 measurements showed no significant difference compared to a single-echo spin-echo reference.
• In vivo ADC values were comparable to standard single-shot echo-planar imaging (ssEPI).
• The proposed sequence demonstrated improved distortion scores and comparable overall image quality to ssEPI, despite lower signal-to-noise ratio (SNR).

Conclusions:

• The developed 3D reduced FOV sequence enables single-scan ADC and T2 mapping in the prostate.
• This approach offers a promising alternative for efficient and accurate prostate quantitative MRI.