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Free-breathing dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI of the abdomen and chest using a radial gradient echo sequence with K-space weighted image contrast (KWIC)

  • Magnetic Resonance
  • Published:
European Radiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Objectives

To evaluate the feasibility of free-breathing, dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) MRI of the abdomen and thorax using the radial-gradient-echo sequence with k-space weighted image contrast (KWIC) reconstruction.

Methods

Institutional review board approval was obtained. Fourteen patients underwent free-breathing radial DCE-MRI. Radial MRI yielded full-frame images by gridding all k-space data and time-resolved subframe images by using KWIC reconstruction technique. Using subframe KWIC images, voxel-wise perfusion maps were created. For comparison, the breath-hold conventional Cartesian 3D-gradient-echo sequence (VIBE) was also performed during the equilibrium phase. The image qualities of radial and conventional VIBE images were compared quantitatively and qualitatively.

Results

Radial DCE-MRI provided high spatial resolution (1.4 × 1.4 mm) and temporal resolution (4.1 s for subframe images) allowing voxel-wise perfusion mapping with negligible motion or streaking artefacts. There were no significant differences in SNR between full-frame radial images and conventional VIBE images (79.08 vs 74.80, P > 0.05). Overall image quality score of full-frame radial images was slightly lower than that of conventional VIBE images (3.88 ± 0.59 vs. 4.31 ± 0.97, P < 0.05), but provided clinically useful images.

Conclusions

The free-breathing radial DCE-MRI can provide high spatial and temporal resolution while maintaining reasonably high image quality and thus is a feasible technique for DCE-MRI in the abdomen and thorax.

Key Points

• Dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE) MRI is important in oncological imaging

• Radial MRI with k-space weighted image contrast (KWIC) reconstruction offers potential improvements

• Radial DCE-MRI provides good image quality, reduced artefacts and high spatial/temporal resolution

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Acknowledgment

This work was partly supported by a National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korean government (2011–0026127) and partly supported by grants of the Korea Health and Medical Technology R&D Project, Ministry for Health, Welfare & Family Affairs (A100895, A100265). We thank Bonnie Hami, M.A., for her editorial assistance. We also thank Peter Gall, PhD., for technical advice about Tissue4D software. Four coauthors (Berthold Kiefer, Kai Tobias Block, Hyunjun Ji, and Simon Bauer) are employees of Siemens Healthcare, and one coauthor (Chin Kim) is an employee of Chong Kun Dang Pharmaceuticals. Siemens Medical Systems provided the radial VIBE sequence as well as technical advice. We thank Chong Kun Dang Pharmaceuticals for allowing us to use MRI data of patients enrolled in their ongoing clinical trial (NCT01028859).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Korea

    Kyung Won Kim, Jeong Min Lee, Yong Sik Jeon, Sung Eun Kang, Jee Hyun Baek, Joon Koo Han & Byung Ihn Choi

  2. Department of Internal Medicine, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Korea

    Yung-Jue Bang

  3. Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, USA

    Kyung Won Kim

  4. Siemens Healthcare, Erlangen, Germany

    Berthold Kiefer, Kai Tobias Block, Hyunjun Ji & Simon Bauer

  5. Chong Kun Dang Pharmaceuticals, Seoul, Korea

    Chin Kim

  6. Department of Radiology, and Institute of Radiation Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, 28 Yeongon-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, 110-744, Korea

    Jeong Min Lee

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  1. Kyung Won Kim
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jeong Min Lee.

Electronic supplementary material

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Electronic appendix 1

Voxel-wise perfusion maps using subframe KWIC images. This animation shows T1 mapping (left upper), motion-corrected subframe images (right upper), vowel-wise Ktrans map (left lower), and time-intensity curve (right lower) of radial DCE-MRI of the abdomen (GIF 6589 kb)

Electronic appendix 2

Anatomic coverage of radial MRI for free-breathing chest imaging. This animation shows the imaging volumes of the full-frame radial image series obtained 41 seconds following contrast injection in a 56-year-old patient with lung cancer. No breathing motion artefacts are noted even though it is obtained during shallow free-breathing (GIF 2129 kb)

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Kim, K.W., Lee, J.M., Jeon, Y.S. et al. Free-breathing dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI of the abdomen and chest using a radial gradient echo sequence with K-space weighted image contrast (KWIC). Eur Radiol 23, 1352–1360 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-012-2699-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-012-2699-4

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