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Three dimensional MRF obtains highly repeatable and reproducible multi-parametric estimations in the healthy human brain at 1.5T and 3T.

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

Change log

Authors

Buonincontri, Guido 
Kurzawski, Jan W 
Kaggie, Joshua D 
Gallagher, Ferdia A 

Abstract

Magnetic resonance fingerprinting (MRF) is highly promising as a quantitative MRI technique due to its accuracy, robustness, and efficiency. Previous studies have found high repeatability and reproducibility of 2D MRF acquisitions in the brain. Here, we have extended our investigations to 3D MRF acquisitions covering the whole brain using spiral projection k-space trajectories. Our travelling head study acquired test/retest data from the brains of 12 healthy volunteers and 8 MRI systems (3 systems at 3 T and 5 at 1.5 T, all from a single vendor), using a study design not requiring all subjects to be scanned at all sites. The pulse sequence and reconstruction algorithm were the same for all acquisitions. After registration of the MRF-derived PD T1 and T2 maps to an anatomical atlas, coefficients of variation (CVs) were computed to assess test/retest repeatability and inter-site reproducibility in each voxel, while a General Linear Model (GLM) was used to determine the voxel-wise variability between all confounders, which included test/retest, subject, field strength and site. Our analysis demonstrated a high repeatability (CVs 0.7-1.3% for T1, 2.0-7.8% for T2, 1.4-2.5% for normalized PD) and reproducibility (CVs of 2.0-5.8% for T1, 7.4-10.2% for T2, 5.2-9.2% for normalized PD) in gray and white matter. Both repeatability and reproducibility improved when compared to similar experiments using 2D acquisitions. Three-dimensional MRF obtains highly repeatable and reproducible estimations of T1 and T2, supporting the translation of MRF-based fast quantitative imaging into clinical applications.

Description

Keywords

3D, Brain, MR fingerprinting, MRI, Quantitation, Relaxometry, Three dimensional, Adult, Brain, Female, Healthy Volunteers, Humans, Image Processing, Computer-Assisted, Imaging, Three-Dimensional, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Multiparametric Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Reproducibility of Results

Journal Title

Neuroimage

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

1053-8119
1095-9572

Volume Title

226

Publisher

Elsevier BV

Rights

All rights reserved
Sponsorship
Cancer Research UK (C12912/A27150)
Cancer Research Uk (None)
This research was funded by the Italian Ministry of Health and by Tuscany Region under the project ‘Ricerca Finalizzata’, grant no. GR-2016-02361693. Funding from the Tuscany Government under the project Q-MRI of the Intervention Program INFN- RT2 172800 (Bando GiovaniSi 2017 - POR FSE 2014-2020). Funding from the EMPIR Unrestricted 151 Programme (18HLT05 QUIERO Project) co-financed by the Participating States an from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme. TM, JDK, FAG are supported by the NIHR Cambridge BRC. The views expressed are those of authors and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care.