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Abdominal MR elastography with multiple driver arrays: performance and repeatability

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Abstract

Purpose

To evaluate the performance and repeatability assessing liver, spleen, and kidney stiffness with magnetic resonance elastography (MRE), using arrays of pneumatic passive drivers.

Methods

An array of four flexible, pneumatically activated passive drivers for abdominal MRE were developed and tested in this study. Multiple MRE acquisitions were performed prospectively in a series of eleven volunteers, with activation of all combinations of the four drivers, individually and simultaneously. MRE exams were repeated three times to study within-day and between-day test–retest repeatability. Semi-quantitative evaluation of wave propagation and penetration, and quantitative assessment of tissue stiffness was conducted for liver, spleen, and kidneys.

Results

When driver location and amplitude were sufficient to achieve necessary shear wave illumination in any given region of interest, the results showed excellent test–retest repeatability in abdominal organ stiffness with both single and multiple driver configurations. The results confirmed that multiple driver arrays provided suitable shear wave illumination over a larger region of the abdomen, allowing more reliable stiffness measurements in multiple organs. MRE assessment of the spleen was found to be prone to effects of excessive shear wave amplitude, however.

Conclusion

A multiple driver array provides shear wave illumination over a larger region of the abdomen than obtained with a single driver, for MRE assessment of multiple abdominal organs, providing excellent test–retest repeatability in stiffness measurements. However, careful tuning of the location and amplitude of each driver is essential to achieve consistent results.

Graphical abstract

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Abbreviations

MRE:

Magnetic resonance elastography

DR1:

Driver number 1

DR2:

Driver number 2

DR3:

Driver number 3

DR4:

Driver number 4

DR12:

Simultaneous activation of driver numbers 1 and 2

DR13:

Simultaneous activation of driver numbers 1 and 3

DR14:

Simultaneous activation of driver numbers 1 and 4

DR1234:

Simultaneous activation of driver numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4

IVPD:

Intravoxel phase dispersion

ROI:

Region of interest

SD:

Standard deviation

CV:

Coefficient of variation

RC:

Repeatability coefficient

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Jennifer Kugel for assistance in preparing this manuscript.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering of the National Institutes of Health (grant numbers R37 EB001981, R01 EB017197), the Center for Individualized Medicine (CIM) at Mayo Clinic, and the Department of Defense (Grant No. W81XWH-19-1-0583-01).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, MN, 55905, USA

    Jie Chen, Jun Chen, Jeremiah A. Heilman, Kevin J. Glaser, Roger C. Grimm, Nana Owusu, Caixin Qiu, Richard L. Ehman & Meng Yin

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  1. Jie Chen
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  2. Jun Chen
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  3. Jeremiah A. Heilman
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  8. Richard L. Ehman
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  9. Meng Yin
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Meng Yin.

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Conflict of interest

Jun Chen, Kevin J. Glaser, Roger Grimm, Richard L. Ehman, Meng Yin, and the Mayo Clinic have intellectual property rights and a financial interest related to magnetic resonance elastography technology.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The study was approved by the Bioethics Committee of Mayo Clinic, and informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Chen, J., Chen, J., Heilman, J.A. et al. Abdominal MR elastography with multiple driver arrays: performance and repeatability. Abdom Radiol 48, 1945–1954 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00261-023-03866-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00261-023-03866-5

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