Navigator-triggered and breath-hold 3D MRCP using compressed sensing: image quality and method selection factor assessment

2020 ◽  
Vol 45 (10) ◽  
pp. 3081-3091
Author(s):  
Daisuke Morimoto ◽  
Tomoko Hyodo ◽  
Ken Kamata ◽  
Tomoya Kadoba ◽  
Makoto Itoh ◽  
...  
Diagnostics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 634
Author(s):  
Weon Jang ◽  
Ji Soo Song ◽  
Sang Heon Kim ◽  
Jae Do Yang

While magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) is routinely used, compressed sensing MRCP (CS-MRCP) and gradient and spin-echo MRCP (GRASE-MRCP) with breath-holding (BH) may allow sufficient image quality with shorter acquisition times. This study qualitatively and quantitatively compared BH-CS-MRCP and BH-GRASE-MRCP and evaluated their clinical effectiveness. Data from 59 consecutive patients who underwent both BH-CS-MRCP and BH-GRASE-MRCP were qualitatively analyzed using a five-point Likert-type scale. The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the common bile duct (CBD), contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) of the CBD and liver, and contrast ratio between periductal tissue and the CBD were measured. Paired t-test, Wilcoxon signed-rank test, and McNemar’s test were used for statistical analysis. No significant differences were found in overall image quality or duct visualization of the CBD, right and left 1st level intrahepatic duct (IHD), cystic duct, and proximal pancreatic duct (PD). BH-CS-MRCP demonstrated higher background suppression and better visualization of right (p = 0.004) and left 2nd level IHD (p < 0.001), mid PD (p = 0.003), and distal PD (p = 0.041). Image quality degradation was less with BH-GRASE-MRCP than BH-CS-MRCP (p = 0.025). Of 24 patients with communication between a cyst and the PD, 21 (87.5%) and 15 patients (62.5%) demonstrated such communication on BH-CS-MRCP and BH-GRASE-MRCP, respectively. SNR, contrast ratio, and CNR of BH-CS-MRCP were higher than BH-GRASE-MRCP (p < 0.001). Both BH-CS-MRCP and BH-GRASE-MRCP are useful imaging methods with sufficient image quality. Each method has advantages, such as better visualization of small ducts with BH-CS-MRCP and greater time saving with BH-GRASE-MRCP. These differences allow diverse choices for visualization of the pancreaticobiliary tree in clinical practice.


2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (11) ◽  
pp. 6014-6021
Author(s):  
Benjamin Henninger ◽  
Michael Steurer ◽  
Michaela Plaikner ◽  
Elisabeth Weiland ◽  
Werner Jaschke ◽  
...  

Abstract Objectives To evaluate magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) with compressed sensing (CS) for the assessment of branch duct intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm (BD-IPMN) of the pancreas. For this purpose, conventional navigator-triggered (NT) sampling perfection with application-optimized contrast using different flip angle evolutions (SPACE) MRCP was compared with various CS-SPACE-MRCP sequences in a clinical setting. Methods A total of 41 patients (14 male, 27 female, mean age 68 years) underwent 1.5-T MRCP for the evaluation of BD-IPMN. The MRCP protocol consisted of the following sequences: conventional NT-SPACE-MRCP, CS-SPACE-MRCP with long (BHL, 17 s) and short single breath-hold (BHS, 8 s), and NT-CS-SPACE-MRCP. Two board-certified radiologists evaluated image quality, duct sharpness, duct visualization, lesion conspicuity, confidence, and communication with the main pancreatic duct in consensus using a 5-point scale (1–5), with higher scores indicating better quality/delineation/confidence. Maximum intensity projection reconstructions and originally acquired data were used for evaluation. Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to compare the intra-individual difference between sequences. Results BHS-CS-SPACE-MRCP had the highest scores for image quality (3.85 ± 0.79), duct sharpness (3.81 ± 1.05), and duct visualization (3.81 ± 1.01). There was a significant difference compared with NT-CS-SPACE-MRCP (p < 0.05) but no significant difference to the standard NT-SPACE-MRCP (p > 0.05). Concerning diagnostic quality, BHS-CS-SPACE-MRCP had the highest scores in lesion conspicuity (3.95 ± 0.92), confidence (4.12 ± 1.08), and communication (3.8 ± 1.06), significantly higher compared with NT-SPACE-MRCP, BHL-SPACE-MRCP, and NT-CS-SPACE-MRCP (p = <0.05). Conclusions MRCP with CS 3D SPACE for the evaluation of BD-IPMN at 1.5 T provides the best results using a short breath-hold sequence. This approach is feasible and an excellent alternative to standard NT 3D MRCP sequences. Key Points • 1.5-T MRCP with compressed sensing for the evaluation of branch duct IPMN is a feasible method. • Short breath-hold sequences provide the best results for this purpose.


Diagnostics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 1886
Author(s):  
Olivier Chevallier ◽  
Hélène Escande ◽  
Khalid Ambarki ◽  
Elisabeth Weiland ◽  
Bernd Kuehn ◽  
...  

To compare two magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) sequences at 3 Tesla (3T): the conventional 3D Respiratory-Triggered SPACE sequence (RT-MRCP) and a prototype 3D Compressed-Sensing Breath-Hold SPACE sequence (CS-BH-MRCP), in terms of qualitative and quantitative image quality and radiologist’s diagnostic confidence for detecting common bile duct (CBD) lithiasis, biliary anastomosis stenosis in liver-transplant recipients, and communication of pancreatic cyst with the main pancreatic duct (MPD). Sixty-eight patients with suspicion of choledocholithiasis or biliary anastomosis stenosis after liver transplant, or branch-duct intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm of the pancreas (BD-IPMN), were included. The relative CBD to peri-biliary tissues (PBT) contrast ratio (CR) was assessed. Overall image quality, presence of artefacts, background noise suppression and the visualization of 12 separated segments of the pancreatic and bile ducts were evaluated by two observers working independently on a five-point scale. Diagnostic confidence was scored on a 1–3 scale. The CS-BH-MRCP presented significantly better CRs (p < 0.0001), image quality (p = 0.004), background noise suppression (p = 0.011), fewer artefacts (p = 0.004) and better visualization of pancreatic and bile ducts segments with the exception of the proximal CBD (p = 0.054), cystic duct confluence (p = 0.459), the four secondary intrahepatic bile ducts, and central part of the MPD (p = 0.885) for which no significant differences were found. Overall, diagnostic confidence was significantly better with the CS-BH-MRCP sequence for both readers (p = 0.038 and p = 0.038, respectively). This study shows that the CS-BH-MRCP sequence presents overall better image quality and bile and pancreatic ducts visualization compared to the conventional RT-MRCP sequence at 3T.


Diagnostics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 376
Author(s):  
Ji Soo Song ◽  
Seung Hun Kim ◽  
Bernd Kuehn ◽  
Mun Young Paek

Magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) has been widely used in clinical practice, and recently developed compressed-sensing accelerated MRCP (CS-MRCP) has shown great potential in shortening the acquisition time. The purpose of this prospective study was to evaluate the clinical feasibility and image quality of optimized breath-hold CS-MRCP (BH-CS-MRCP) and conventional navigator-triggered MRCP. Data from 124 consecutive patients with suspected pancreaticobiliary diseases were analyzed by two radiologists using a five-point Likert-type scale. Communication between a cyst and the pancreatic duct (PD) was analyzed. Signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the common bile duct (CBD), contrast ratio between the CBD and periductal tissue, and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) of the CBD and liver were measured. Optimized BH-CS-MRCP showed significantly fewer artifacts with better background suppression and overall image quality. Optimized BH-CS-MRCP demonstrated communication between a cyst and the PD better than conventional MRCP (96.7% vs. 76.7%, p = 0.048). SNR, contrast ratio, and CNR were significantly higher with optimized BH-CS-MRCP (p < 0.001). Optimized BH-CS-MRCP showed comparable or even better image quality than conventional MRCP, with improved visualization of communication between a cyst and the PD.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (15) ◽  
pp. 3274
Author(s):  
Benjamin Longère ◽  
Paul-Edouard Allard ◽  
Christos V Gkizas ◽  
Augustin Coisne ◽  
Justin Hennicaux ◽  
...  

Background and objective: Cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) is a key tool for cardiac work-up. However, arrhythmia can be responsible for arrhythmia-related artifacts (ARA) and increased scan time using segmented sequences. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of cardiac arrhythmia on image quality in a comparison of a compressed sensing real-time (CSrt) cine sequence with the reference prospectively gated segmented balanced steady-state free precession (Cineref) technique regarding ARA. Methods: A total of 71 consecutive adult patients (41 males; mean age = 59.5 ± 20.1 years (95% CI: 54.7–64.2 years)) referred for CMR examination with concomitant irregular heart rate (defined by an RR interval coefficient of variation >10%) during scanning were prospectively enrolled. For each patient, two cine sequences were systematically acquired: first, the reference prospectively triggered multi-breath-hold Cineref sequence including a short-axis stack, one four-chamber slice, and a couple of two-chamber slices; second, an additional single breath-hold CSrt sequence providing the same slices as the reference technique. Two radiologists independently assessed ARA and image quality (overall, acquisition, and edge sharpness) for both techniques. Results: The mean heart rate was 71.8 ± 19.0 (SD) beat per minute (bpm) (95% CI: 67.4–76.3 bpm) and its coefficient of variation was 25.0 ± 9.4 (SD) % (95% CI: 22.8–27.2%). Acquisition was significantly faster with CSrt than with Cineref (Cineref: 556.7 ± 145.4 (SD) s (95% CI: 496.7–616.7 s); CSrt: 23.9 ± 7.9 (SD) s (95% CI: 20.6–27.1 s); p < 0.0001). A total of 599 pairs of cine slices were evaluated (median: 8 (range: 6–14) slices per patient). The mean proportion of ARA-impaired slices per patient was 85.9 ± 22.7 (SD) % using Cineref, but this was figure was zero using CSrt (p < 0.0001). The European CMR registry artifact score was lower with CSrt (median: 1 (range: 0–5)) than with Cineref (median: 3 (range: 0–3); p < 0.0001). Subjective image quality was higher in CSrt than in Cineref (median: 3 (range: 1–3) versus 2 (range: 1–4), respectively; p < 0.0001). In line, edge sharpness was higher on CSrt cine than on Cineref images (0.054 ± 0.016 pixel−1 (95% CI: 0.050–0.057 pixel−1) versus 0.042 ± 0.022 pixel−1 (95% CI: 0.037–0.047 pixel−1), respectively; p = 0.0001). Conclusion: Compressed sensing real-time cine drastically reduces arrhythmia-related artifacts and thus improves cine image quality in patients with arrhythmia.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyun Gi Kim ◽  
Se Won Oh ◽  
Dongyeob Han ◽  
Jee Young Kim ◽  
Gye Yeon Lim

Abstract The purpose of this study was to compare the image quality of the single-slab, 3D T2-weighted turbo-spin-eco sequence with high sampling efficiency (SPACE) with accelerated SPACE using compressed sensing (CS-SPACE) in paediatric brain imaging. A total of 116 brain MRI (53 in SPACE group and 63 in CS-SPACE group) were obtained from children aged 16 years old or younger. Quantitative image quality was evaluated using the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR). The sequences were qualitatively evaluated for overall image quality, SNR, general artifact, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)-related artifact and grey-white matter differentiation. The two sequences were compared for the total and for two age groups (< 24 months vs. ≥ 24 months). CS application in 3D T2-weighted imaging resulted in 8.5% reduction in scanning time. Quantitative image quality analysis showed higher SNR (Median [Interquartile range]; 29 [25] vs. 23 [14], P = .005) and CNR (0.231 [0.121] vs. 0.165 [0.120], P = .027) with CS-SPACE compared to SPACE. Qualitative image quality analysis showed better image quality with CS-SPACE for general artifact (P = .024) and CSF-related artifact (P < .001). CSF-related artifacts reduction was more prominent in the older age group (≥ 24 months). Overall image quality (P = .162), SNR (P = .726), and grey-white matter differentiation (P = .397) were comparable between SPACE and CS-SPACE. In conclusion, compressed sensing applied 3D T2-weighted images showed comparable or superior image quality compared to conventional images with reduced acquisition time for paediatric brain.


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