Feedback field control improves the precision of T2 * quantification at 7 T

Messing up to clean up: Semi-randomized frequency selective space-filling curves to suppress physiological signal fluctuations in MRI

PURPOSE

Rapid 3D steady-state sequences are widely used but are also known to be sensitive to semi-periodic physiological signal fluctuations due to, for example, cardiac pulsation, breathing, and eye/eyelids movement. This semi-periodicity results in repeating artifacts in the image whose intensity depends on the scan parameters. The purpose of this study is to design a reordering of the 2D phase encodes (within the 3D acquisition) that reduces these artifacts.

METHODS

A randomized order of the phase encodes can suppress repeating artifact but may also introduce its own apparent noise, for example, in cases of slow subject movement or gradual changes in eddy currents. In a new design a semi-randomized space-filling curve is generated by scrambling the local order of the phase encodes to achieve a controlled frequency selective effect, that is, eliminating artifacts above a chosen (fluctuation) frequency threshold while leaving lower frequencies untouched, thus overcoming the limitations of a randomized order. The method was characterized in simulations and substantiated by human brain imaging at 7 T using two steady-state gradient echo variants that suffer from pulsation, either near blood vessels or near the ventricles.

RESULTS

The simulations with a point source show that the maximum artifact intensity can be reduced by factors of 10-50 depending on the scan parameters. In human scanning, the new approach drastically reduced physiologically induced artifacts and was superior in this regard to both full randomization and a generalized Hilbert curve, another semi-randomized approach.

CONCLUSION

The phase-encodes reordering presented here effectively removes artifacts arising from local fluctuations.

Effect of motion, cortical orientation and spatial resolution on quantitative imaging of cortical R2* and magnetic susceptibility at 0.3 mm in-plane resolution at 7 T

MR images of the effective relaxation rate R2* and magnetic susceptibility χ derived from multi-echo T2*-weighted (T2*w) MRI can provide insight into iron and myelin distributions in the brain, with the potential of providing biomarkers for neurological disorders. Quantification of R2* and χ at submillimeter resolution in the cortex in vivo has been difficult because of challenges such as head motion, limited signal to noise ratio, long scan time, and motion related magnetic field fluctuations. This work aimed to improve the robustness for quantifying intracortical R2* and χ and analyze the effects from motion, spatial resolution, and cortical orientation. T2*w data was acquired with a spatial resolution of 0.3 × 0.3 × 0.4 mm3 at 7 T and downsampled to various lower resolutions. A combined correction for motion and B0 changes was deployed using volumetric navigators. Such correction improved the T2*w image quality rated by experienced image readers and test-retest reliability of R2* and χ quantification with reduced median inter-scan differences up to 10 s-1 and 5 ppb, respectively. R2* and χ near the line of Gennari, a cortical layer high in iron and myelin, were as much as 10 s-1 and 10 ppb higher than the region at adjacent cortical depth. In addition, a significant effect due to the cortical orientation relative to the static field (B0) was observed in χ with a peak-to-peak amplitude of about 17 ppb. In retrospectively downsampled data, the capability to distinguish different cortical depth regions based on R2* or χ contrast remained up to isotropic 0.5 mm resolution. This study highlights the unique characteristics of R2* and χ along the cortical depth at submillimeter resolution and the need for motion and B0 corrections for their robust quantification in vivo.

Real-time shimming with FID navigators

PURPOSE

To implement a method for real-time field control using rapid FID navigator (FIDnav) measurements and evaluate the efficacy of the proposed approach for mitigating dynamic field perturbations and improvingT 2 * $$ {\mathrm{T}}_2^{\ast } $$ -weighted image quality.

METHODS

FIDnavs were embedded in a gradient echo sequence and a subject-specific linear calibration model was generated on the scanner to facilitate rapid shim updates in response to measured FIDnav signals. To confirm the accuracy of FID-navigated field updates, phantom and volunteer scans were performed with online updates of the scanner B0 shim settings. To evaluate improvement inT 2 * $$ {\mathrm{T}}_2^{\ast } $$ -weighted image quality with real-time shimming, 10 volunteers were scanned at 3T while performing deep-breathing and nose-touching tasks designed to modulate the B0 field. Quantitative image quality metrics were compared with and without FID-navigated field control. An additional volunteer was scanned at 7T to evaluate performance at ultra-high field.

RESULTS

Applying measured FIDnav shim updates successfully compensated for applied global and linear field offsets in phantoms and across all volunteers. FID-navigated real-time shimming led to a substantial reduction in field fluctuations and a consequent improvement inT 2 * $$ {\mathrm{T}}_2^{\ast } $$ -weighted image quality in volunteers performing deep-breathing and nose-touching tasks, with 7.57% ± 6.01% and 8.21% ± 10.90% improvement in peak SNR and structural similarity, respectively.

CONCLUSION

FIDnavs facilitate rapid measurement and application of field coefficients for slice-wise B0 shimming. The proposed approach can successfully counteract spatiotemporal field perturbations and substantially improvesT 2 * $$ {\mathrm{T}}_2^{\ast } $$ -weighted image quality, which is important for a variety of clinical and research applications, particularly at ultra-high field.

Neuroimaging at 7 Tesla: a pictorial narrative review

Neuroimaging using the 7-Tesla (7T) human magnetic resonance (MR) system is rapidly gaining popularity after being approved for clinical use in the European Union and the USA. This trend is the same for functional MR imaging (MRI). The primary advantages of 7T over lower magnetic fields are its higher signal-to-noise and contrast-to-noise ratios, which provide high-resolution acquisitions and better contrast, making it easier to detect lesions and structural changes in brain disorders. Another advantage is the capability to measure a greater number of neurochemicals by virtue of the increased spectral resolution. Many structural and functional studies using 7T have been conducted to visualize details in the white matter and layers of the cortex and hippocampus, the subnucleus or regions of the putamen, the globus pallidus, thalamus and substantia nigra, and in small structures, such as the subthalamic nucleus, habenula, perforating arteries, and the perivascular space, that are difficult to observe at lower magnetic field strengths. The target disorders for 7T neuroimaging range from tumoral diseases to vascular, neurodegenerative, and psychiatric disorders, including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, major depressive disorder, and schizophrenia. MR spectroscopy has also been used for research because of its increased chemical shift that separates overlapping peaks and resolves neurochemicals more effectively at 7T than a lower magnetic field. This paper presents a narrative review of these topics and an illustrative presentation of images obtained at 7T. We expect 7T neuroimaging to provide a new imaging biomarker of various brain disorders.

Diagnostic Accuracy of Quantitative Imaging Biomarkers in the Differentiation of Benign and Malignant Vertebral Lesions : Combination of Diffusion-Weighted and Proton Density Fat Fraction Spine MRI

Purpose

To compare and combine the diagnostic performance of the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) derived from diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) and proton density fat fraction (PDFF) derived from chemical-shift encoding (CSE)-based water-fat magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for distinguishing benign and malignant vertebral bone marrow lesions (VBML).

Methods

A total of 55 consecutive patients with 53 benign (traumatic, inflammatory and primary) and 36 malignant (metastatic and hematologic) previously untreated VBMLs were prospectively enrolled in this IRB-approved study and underwent sagittal DWI (single-shot spin-echo echo-planar with multi-slice short TI inversion recovery fat suppression) and CSE-based MRI (gradient-echo 6‑point modified Dixon) in addition to routine clinical spine MRI at 1.5 T or 3.0 T. Diagnostic reference standard was established according to histopathology or imaging follow-up. The ADC = ADC (0, 800) and PDFF = fat / (water + fat) were calculated voxel-wise and examined for differences between benign and malignant lesions.

Results

The ADC and PDFF values of malignant lesions were significantly lower compared to benign lesions (mean ADC 861 × 10⁻⁶ mm²/s vs. 1323 × 10⁻⁶ mm²/s, p < 0.001; mean PDFF 3.1% vs. 28.2%, p < 0.001). The areas under the curve (AUC) and diagnostic accuracies were 0.847 (p < 0.001) and 85.4% (cut-off at 1084.4 × 10⁻⁶ mm²/s) for ADC and 0.940 (p < 0.001) and 89.9% for PDFF (cut-off at 7.8%), respectively. The combined use of ADC and PDFF improved the diagnostic accuracy to 96.6% (malignancy if ADC ≤ 1118.2 × 10⁻⁶ mm²/s and PDFF ≤ 20.0%, otherwise benign).

Conclusion

Quantitative evaluation of both ADC and PDFF was useful in differentiating benign VBMLs from malignancy. The combination of ADC and PDFF improved the diagnostic performance and yielded high diagnostic accuracy for the differentiation of benign and malignant VBMLs.

Simultaneous feedback control for joint field and motion correction in brain MRI

T2*-weighted gradient-echo sequences count among the most widely used techniques in neuroimaging and offer rich magnitude and phase contrast. The susceptibility effects underlying this contrast scale with B₀, making T2*-weighted imaging particularly interesting at high field. High field also benefits baseline sensitivity and thus facilitates high-resolution studies. However, enhanced susceptibility effects and high target resolution come with inherent challenges. Relying on long echo times, T2*-weighted imaging not only benefits from enhanced local susceptibility effects but also suffers from increased field fluctuations due to moving body parts and breathing. High resolution, in turn, renders neuroimaging particularly vulnerable to motion of the head. This work reports the implementation and characterization of a system that aims to jointly address these issues. It is based on the simultaneous operation of two control loops, one for field stabilization and one for motion correction. The key challenge with this approach is that the two loops both operate on the magnetic field in the imaging volume and are thus prone to mutual interference and potential instability. This issue is addressed at the levels of sensing, timing, and control parameters. Performance assessment shows the resulting system to be stable and exhibit adequate loop decoupling, precision, and bandwidth. Simultaneous field and motion control is then demonstrated in examples of T2*-weighted in vivo imaging at 7T.

Multimodal Quantitative MRI Reveals No Evidence for Tissue Pathology in Idiopathic Cervical Dystonia

Background: While in symptomatic forms of dystonia cerebral pathology is by definition present, it is unclear so far whether disease is associated with microstructural cerebral changes in idiopathic dystonia. Previous quantitative MRI (qMRI) studies assessing cerebral tissue composition in idiopathic dystonia revealed conflicting results.

Objective: Using multimodal qMRI, the presented study aimed to investigate alterations in different cerebral microstructural compartments associated with idiopathic cervical dystonia in vivo.

Methods: Mapping of T₁, T₂, T2*, and proton density (PD) was performed in 17 patients with idiopathic cervical dystonia and 29 matched healthy control subjects. Statistical comparisons of the parametric maps between groups were conducted for various regions of interest (ROI), including major basal ganglia nuclei, the thalamus, white matter, and the cerebellum, and voxel-wise for the whole brain.

Results: Neither whole brain voxel-wise statistics nor ROI-based analyses revealed significant group differences for any qMRI parameter under investigation.

Conclusions: The negative findings of this qMRI study argue against the presence of overt microstructural tissue change in patients with idiopathic cervical dystonia. The results seem to support a common view that idiopathic cervical dystonia might primarily resemble a functional network disease.

Improvement of reproducibility in quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) and transverse relaxation rates ( R 2 * ) after physiological noise correction

BACKGROUND

Numerous studies have suggested that quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) and transverse relaxation rates ( R 2 * ) are useful to monitor neurological diseases. For clinical use of QSM and R 2 * , reproducibility is an important feature. However, respiration-induced local magnetic field variation makes artifacts in gradient echo-based images and reduces the reproducibility of QSM and R 2 * .

PURPOSE

To investigate the improvement of reproducibility of QSM and R 2 * after the correction of respiration-induced field variation, and to assess the effect of varying types of the region of interest (ROI) analysis on reproducibility.

STUDY TYPE

Reproducibility study.

POPULATION

Ten controls.

FIELD STRENGTH/SEQUENCE

3T/multiecho gradient echo sequence.

ASSESSMENT

Intrascan reproducibility of QSM and R 2 * was investigated in ROIs before and after the respiration correction.

STATISTICAL TESTS

Reproducibility was obtained by the square of voxel-wise correlation coefficients between scans. A paired t-test was performed for comparison between before and after the respiration correction and between QSM and R 2 * .

RESULTS

Based on the ROI analysis, reproducibility increased after the respiration correction. Reproducibility in the white matter (11.89% increased in QSM and 23.38% in R 2 * , P = 0.009 and 0.024, respectively) and deep gray matter (5.50% increased in QSM and 13.96% in R 2 * , P = 0.024 and 0.019, respectively) increased significantly after the respiration correction. Reproducibility of R 2 * was higher than that of QSM in the whole brain and cortical gray matter, while QSM maps showed higher reproducibility than R 2 * in the white matter and deep gray matter.

DATA CONCLUSION

Respiration-induced error correction significantly improved reproducibility in QSM and R 2 * mapping. QSM and R 2 * mapping showed a different level of reproducibility depending on the types of ROI analysis.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE

4 Technical Efficacy: Stage 1 J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2018.