Artifacts during the arterial phase of gadoxetate disodium-enhanced MRI: Multiple arterial phases using view-sharing from two different vendors versus single arterial phase imaging

HDL: Hybrid Deep Learning for the Synthesis of Myocardial Velocity Maps in Digital Twins for Cardiac Analysis

Synthetic digital twins based on medical data accelerate the acquisition, labelling and decision making procedure in digital healthcare. A core part of digital healthcare twins is model-based data synthesis, which permits the generation of realistic medical signals without requiring to cope with the modelling complexity of anatomical and biochemical phenomena producing them in reality. Unfortunately, algorithms for cardiac data synthesis have been so far scarcely studied in the literature. An important imaging modality in the cardiac examination is three-directional CINE multi-slice myocardial velocity mapping (3Dir MVM), which provides a quantitative assessment of cardiac motion in three orthogonal directions of the left ventricle. The long acquisition time and complex acquisition produce make it more urgent to produce synthetic digital twins of this imaging modality. In this study, we propose a hybrid deep learning (HDL) network, especially for synthetic 3Dir MVM data. Our algorithm is featured by a hybrid UNet and a Generative Adversarial Network with a foreground-background generation scheme. The experimental results show that from temporally down-sampled magnitude CINE images (six times), our proposed algorithm can still successfully synthesise high temporal resolution 3Dir MVM CMR data (PSNR=42.32) with precise left ventricle segmentation (DICE=0.92). These performance scores indicate that our proposed HDL algorithm can be implemented in real-world digital twins for myocardial velocity mapping data simulation. To the best of our knowledge, this work is the first one investigating digital twins of the 3Dir MVM CMR, which has shown great potential for improving the efficiency of clinical studies via synthesised cardiac data.

Fully automatic quantification of transient severe respiratory motion artifact of gadoxetate disodium-enhanced MRI during arterial phase

PURPOSE

It is important to fully automate the evaluation of gadoxetate disodium-enhanced arterial phase images because the efficient quantification of transient severe motion artifacts can be used in a variety of applications. Our study proposes a fully automatic evaluation method of motion artifacts during the arterial phase of gadoxetate disodium-enhanced MR imaging.

METHODS

The proposed method was based on the construction of quality-aware features to represent the motion artifact using MR image statistics and multidirectional filtered coefficients. Using the quality-aware features, the method calculated quantitative quality scores of gadoxetate disodium-enhanced images fully automatically. The performance of our proposed method, as well as two other methods, was acquired by correlating scores against subjective scores from radiologists based on the 5-point scale and binary evaluation. The subjective scores evaluated by two radiologists were severity scores of motion artifacts in the evaluation set on a scale of 1 (no motion artifacts) to 5 (severe motion artifacts).

RESULTS

Pearson's linear correlation coefficient (PLCC) and Spearman's rank-ordered correlation coefficient (SROCC) values of our proposed method against the subjective scores were 0.9036 and 0.9057, respectively, whereas the PLCC values of two other methods were 0.6525 and 0.8243, and the SROCC values were 0.6070 and 0.8348. Also, in terms of binary quantification of transient severe respiratory motion, the proposed method achieved 0.9310 sensitivity, 0.9048 specificity, and 0.9200 accuracy, whereas the other two methods achieved 0.7586, 0.8996 sensitivities, 0.8098, 0.8905 specificities, and 0.9200, 0.9048 accuracies CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated the high performance of the proposed automatic quantification method in evaluating transient severe motion artifacts in arterial phase images.

Influence of dilution on arterial-phase artifacts and signal intensity on gadoxetic acid-enhanced liver MRI

OBJECTIVES

To investigate the effect of saline-diluted gadoxetic acid, done for arterial-phase (AP) artifact reduction, on signal intensity (SI), and hence focal lesion conspicuity on MR imaging.

METHODS

We retrospectively examined 112 patients who each had at least two serial gadoxetic acid-enhanced liver MRIs performed at 1 ml/s, first with non-diluted (ND), then with 1:1 saline-diluted (D) contrast. Two blinded readers independently analyzed the artifacts and graded dynamic images using a 5-point scale. The absolute SI of liver parenchyma, focal liver lesions (if present), aorta, and portal vein at the level of the celiac trunk and the SI of the paraspinal muscle were measured in all phases. The signal-to-norm (SI_Norm) of the vascular structures, hepatic parenchyma and focal lesions, and the contrast-to-norm (C_Norm) of focal liver lesions were calculated.

RESULTS

AP artifacts were significantly reduced with dilution. Mean absolute contrast-enhanced liver SI was significantly higher on the D exams compared to the ND exams. Likewise, SI_Norm of liver parenchyma was significantly higher in all contrast-enhanced phases except transitional phase on the D exams. SI_Norm values in the AP for the aorta and in the PVP for portal vein were significantly higher on the diluted exams. The C_Norm was not significantly different between ND and D exams for lesions in any imaging phase. The interclass correlation coefficient was excellent (0.89).

CONCLUSION

Gadoxetic acid dilution injected at 1ml/s produces images with significantly fewer AP artifacts but no significant loss in SI_Norm or C_Norm compared to standard non-diluted images.

KEY POINTS

• Diluted gadoxetic acid at slow injection (1 ml/s) yielded images with higher SI_Norm of the liver parenchyma and preserved C_Norm for focal liver lesions. • Gadoxetic acid-enhanced MRI injected at 1 ml/s is associated with arterial-phase (AP) artifacts in 31% of exams, which may degrade image quality and limits focal liver lesion detection. • Saline dilution of gadoxetic acid 1:1 combined with a slow injection rate of 1 ml/s significantly reduced AP artifacts from 31 to 9% and non-diagnostic AP artifacts from 16 to 1%.

Evaluation of late arterial acquisition and image quality after gadoxetate disodium injection using the CDT-VIBE sequence

To explore the applicability of multi-arterial phase imaging technique in gadoxetate disodium-enhanced MRI. We studied 140 consecutive patients with suspected liver lesions who underwent gadoxetate disodium-enhanced MRI before surgery. All patients were randomized into three groups: group A (n = 50) was examined with VIBE-based single-artery phase imaging, group B (n = 44) with StarVIBE, and group C (n = 46) with CAIPIRINHA-Dixon-TWIST-VIBE (CDT-VIBE)-based multi-artery phase imaging. We evaluated the display rate of late arterial images and image quality in arterial phase images. We performed a study of 140 consecutive patients suspected with liver lesions who received gadoxetate disodium-enhanced MRI examination before surgery. All patients were randomly divided into three groups: group A (n = 50) was examined with single arterial phase imaging based on VIBE, group B (n = 44) was based on StarVIBE and group C (n = 46) was analyzed with multi-arterial phase imaging based on CAIPIRINHA-Dixon-TWIST-VIBE (CDT-VIBE). We evaluated the display rate of late arterial images and the image quality of dynamically enhanced images. Both radiologists had an almost perfect agreement (Kappa value > 0.8) in the assessment of late arterial and image quality. For late arterial acquisition, group C was superior to groups A and B (x² = 18.940, P < 0.05); The image of phase 4 had the highest display rate in the late artery phase. For arterial phase image quality, there was no difference between groups A, B and C at five phases (H = 10.481, P = 0.106); and the best image quality score was lower in group C than in groups A and B (H = 8.573, P = 0.014).For the quality of the late arterial images, there was a statistical difference between the best images in groups A, B and C (H = 6.619, P = 0.037), and the images in group C were significantly better than those in group A (P_.adj < 0.05). By applying multi-arterial phase acquisition based on CDT-VIBE, gadoxetate disodium-enhanced MRI scanning can obtain a better late arterial phase and provide high-quality images with fewer motion artifacts.

Transient severe motion artifacts on gadoxetic acid-enhanced MRI: risk factor analysis in 2230 patients

OBJECTIVES

To determine risk factors for transient severe motion (TSM) artifact on arterial phase of gadoxetic acid-enhanced MRI using a large cohort.

METHODS

A total of 2230 patients who underwent gadoxetic acid-enhanced MRI was consecutively included. Two readers evaluated respiratory motion artifact on arterial phase images using a 5-point grading scale. Clinical factors including demographic data, underlying disease, laboratory data, presence of ascites and pleural effusion, and previous experience of gadoxetic acid-enhanced MRI were investigated. Univariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed to determine significant risk factors for TSM. Predictive value of TSM was calculated according to the number of significant risk factors.

RESULTS

Overall incidence of TSM was 5.0% (111/2230). In the multivariable analysis, old age (≥ 65 years; odds ratio [OR] = 2.01 [95% CI, 1.31-3.07]), high body mass index (≥ 25 kg/m²; OR = 1.76 [1.18-2.63]), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (OR = 6.11 [2.32-16.04]), and moderate to severe pleural effusion (OR = 3.55 [1.65-7.65]) were independent significant risk factors for TSM. Presence of hepatitis B (OR = 0.66 [0.43-0.99]) and previous experience of gadoxetic acid-enhanced MRI (OR = 0.52 [0.33-0.83]) were negative risk factors for TSM. When at least one of the significant factors was present, the predictive risk was 5.7% (109/1916), whereas it was 16.3% (17/104) when at least four factors were present.

CONCLUSION

Knowing risk factors for transient severe motion artifact on gadoxetic acid-enhanced MRI can be clinically useful for providing diagnostic strategies more tailored to individual patients.

KEY POINTS

• Old age, high body mass index, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and moderate to severe pleural effusion were independent risk factors for transient severe motion artifact on gadoxetic acid-enhanced MRI. • Patients with hepatitis B or previous experience of gadoxetic acid-enhanced MRI were less likely to show transient severe motion artifact. • As the number of risk factors for transient severe motion artifact increased, the predicted risk for it also showed a tendency to increase.

Clinical usefulness of multiple arterial-phase images in gadoxetate disodium-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging: a systematic review and meta-analysis

OBJECTIVES

The multiple arterial-phase (AP) technique was introduced for liver MRI, but it is not really known if multiple AP MRI (MA-MRI) improves image quality and lesion detection rate on gadoxetate disodium-enhanced MRI in comparison with single AP MRI (SA-MRI). We aimed to determine the clinical usefulness of MA-MRI in comparison with SA-MRI.

METHODS

Original articles reporting the percentage of adequate AP imaging and the lesion detection rate on gadoxetate disodium-enhanced MA-MRI were identified in PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library databases. The pooled percentage of adequate AP imaging and lesion detection rate were calculated using random-effects meta-analysis of single proportions. Subgroup analysis was performed to explain causes of study heterogeneity, and publication bias was evaluated using Egger's test.

RESULTS

Of 772 articles screened, 22 studies in 12 articles were included: 18 studies (ten MA-MRI and eight SA-MRI) suitably defined the percentage of adequate AP imaging and four (three MA-MRI and one SA-MRI) defined the lesion detection rate. MA-MRI had 16.1% higher pooled percentage of adequate AP imaging than SA-MRI (94.8% vs. 78.7%, p < 0.01). MA-MRI additionally detected 33.2% of lesions than SA-MRI (83.2% vs. 50.0%, p = 0.06). Substantial study heterogeneity was found in MA-MRI, and the definition of adequate AP imaging, lesion characteristics, and reference standards were significant factors affecting study heterogeneity (p ≤ 0.02). Significant publication bias was found in MA-MRI (p < 0.01) but not in SA-MRI studies (p = 0.87).

CONCLUSIONS

Gadoxetate disodium-enhanced MA-MRI may be more clinically useful than SA-MRI, but further study is necessary to validate this finding because of study heterogeneity and publication bias.

KEY POINTS

• Multiple arterial-phase MRI (MA-MRI) had a 16.1% higher pooled percentage of adequate AP imaging than single arterial-phase MRI (SA-MRI) (94.8% vs. 78.7%, p < 0.01). • MA-MRI additionally detected an extra 33.2% of lesions compared with SA-MRI (83.2% vs. 50.0%, p = 0.06). • Substantial study heterogeneity and significant publication bias were found across MA-MRI studies.

Transient Severe Motion Artifact on Arterial Phase in Gadoxetic Acid-Enhanced Liver Magnetic Resonance Imaging: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

OBJECTIVES

The aims of this study were to determine the incidence of transient severe motion artifact (TSM) on arterial phase gadoxetic acid-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging of the liver and to investigate the causes of heterogeneity in the published literature.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Original studies reporting the incidence of TSM were identified in searches of PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library databases. The pooled incidence of TSM was calculated using random-effects meta-analysis of single proportions. Subgroup analyses were conducted to explore causes of heterogeneity.

RESULTS

A total of 24 studies were finally included (single arterial phase, 19 studies with 3065 subjects; multiple arterial phases, 8 studies with 2274 subjects). Studies using single arterial phase imaging reported individual TSM rates varying from 4.8% to 26.7% and a pooled incidence of TSM of 13.0% (95% confidence interval, 10.3%-16.2%), which showed substantial study heterogeneity. The pooled incidence of TSM in the studies using multiple arterial phase imaging was 3.2% (95% confidence interval, 1.9%-5.2%), which was significantly less than in those studies using single arterial phase imaging (P < 0.001). In the subgroup analysis, the geographical region of studies and the definition of TSM were found to be causes of heterogeneity. The incidence of TSM was higher in studies with Western populations from Europe or North America than in those with Eastern (Asia/Pacific) populations (16.0% vs 8.8%, P = 0.005). Regarding the definition of TSM, the incidence of TSM was higher when a 4-point scale was used for its categorization than when a 5-point scale was used (20.0% vs 11.0%, P = 0.008), and a definition considering motion artifact on phases other than arterial phase imaging lowered the incidence of TSM compared with it being defined only on arterial phase imaging (11.3% vs 20.3%, P = 0.018).

CONCLUSIONS

The incidence of TSM on arterial phase images varied across studies and was associated with the geographical region of studies and the definition of TSM. Careful interpretation of results reporting TSM might therefore be needed.

Transient Respiratory-motion Artifact and Scan Timing during the Arterial Phase of Gadoxetate Disodium-enhanced MR Imaging: The Benefit of Shortened Acquisition and Multiple Arterial Phase Acquisition

Purpose:

To investigate whether shortened acquisition or multiple arterial phase acquisition improves image quality of the arterial phase compared with conventional protocol.

Methods:

This retrospective study was approved by the relevant Institutional Review Board. A total of 615 consecutive patients who underwent gadoxetate disodium-enhanced MRI including one of the following three sequences in three different periods were included: (i) conventional liver acquisition with volume acceleration (LAVA) (between October 2014 and January 2015, n = 149), (ii) Turbo-LAVA (between March and August 2016, n = 216), and (iii) differential sub-sampling with Cartesian ordering (DISCO) (between January and September 2015, n = 250). We monitored the respiratory bellows waveform during breath holding for each patient and recorded breath-hold fidelity of the patients. Two radiologists independently evaluated the degree of respiratory artifact and scan timing on the arterial phase and compared them between the three protocols (i.e., conventional LAVA, Turbo-LAVA, and DISCO), with conventional LAVA as control.

Results:

The ratio of patients with breath-hold failure was not significantly different among the three protocols (P = 0.6340 and 0.1085). Respiratory artifact was significantly lower in DISCO than in conventional LAVA (P = 0.0424), while there was no significant difference between Turbo-LAVA and conventional LAVA (P = 0.2593). The ratio of adequate scan timing and diagnosable image defined as no or mild artifact and adequate scan timing were higher in DISCO than in conventional LAVA (P = 0.0025 and 0.0019), while there was no significant difference between Turbo-LAVA and conventional LAVA (P = 0.0780 and 0.0657).

Conclusion:

Compared with conventional protocol, multiple arterial phase acquisition (DISCO) obtained a higher number of diagnosable images by reducing respiratory motion artifact and optimizing the scan timing of arterial phase.

MR Imaging Contrast Agents: Role in Imaging of Chronic Liver Diseases

Contrast-enhanced MR imaging plays an important role in the evaluation of patients with chronic liver disease, particularly for detection and characterization of liver lesions. The two most commonly used contrast agents for liver MR imaging are extracellular agents (ECAs) and hepatobiliary agents (HBAs). In patients with liver disease, the main advantage of ECA-enhanced MR imaging is its high specificity for the diagnosis of progressed HCCs. Conversely, HBAs have an additional contrast mechanism, which results in high liver-to-lesion contrast and highest sensitivity for lesion detection in the hepatobiliary phase. Emerging data suggest that features depicted on contrast-enhanced MR imaging scans are related to tumor biology and are predictive of patients' prognosis, likely to further expand the role of contrast-enhanced MR imaging in the clinical care of patients with chronic liver disease.

Examining LI-RADS recommendations: should observation size only be measured on non-arterial phases?

OBJECTIVE

To investigate if size measurements of liver observations is more variable in the arterial phase as suggested by LI-RADS and assess potential higher instability in categorization in this particular phase. Secondarily, to assess inter- and intra-reader agreement for size across phases.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Patients with liver cirrhosis who underwent multi-arterial phase MRI between 2017 and 2018 were retrospectively selected. Three radiologists measured liver observations in each phase, independently, in a random order. Mean size between early and late arterial phases (AP), 2, 3 and 10 min delay and the number of observations crossing the LI-RADS size thresholds (10 and 20 mm) per phase were compared using McNemar's test. Reader agreement was evaluated using intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and bootstrap-based comparisons. Bonferroni's correction was applied to pairwise comparisons.

RESULTS

94 observations (LR-3, LR-4, LR-5, and LR-M) were included. Mean sizes (mm) were late AP: 19.9 (95% CI 17.2, 24.2), 2 min delay: 19.8 (95% CI 17.1, 24.0), 3 min delay: 19.8 (95% CI 17.2, 24.0), 10 min delay: 20.2 (95% CI 17.5, 24.5) (p = 0.10-0.88). There was no difference between phases in number of observations that could have changed category due to variability in size (p = 0.546-1.000). Inter- and intra-reader agreement was excellent (ICC = 0.952-0.981).

CONCLUSION

Measurements of focal liver observations were consistent across all post-contrast imaging phases and we found no higher instability in LI-RADS category in any particular phase. Inter- and intra-reader agreement for size was excellent for each phase. Based on these findings, size measurement could be allowed on any post-contrast phase, including the arterial phase, if deemed appropriate by the radiologist.

Reduction of respiratory motion artifacts in gadoxetate-enhanced MR with a deep learning-based filter using convolutional neural network

Objectives

To reveal the utility of motion artifact reduction with convolutional neural network (MARC) in gadoxetate disodium–enhanced multi-arterial phase MRI of the liver.

Methods

This retrospective study included 192 patients (131 men, 68.7 ± 10.3 years) receiving gadoxetate disodium–enhanced liver MRI in 2017. Datasets were submitted to a newly developed filter (MARC), consisting of 7 convolutional layers, and trained on 14,190 cropped images generated from abdominal MR images. Motion artifact for training was simulated by adding periodic k-space domain noise to the images. Original and filtered images of pre-contrast and 6 arterial phases (7 image sets per patient resulting in 1344 sets in total) were evaluated regarding motion artifacts on a 4-point scale. Lesion conspicuity in original and filtered images was ranked by side-by-side comparison.

Results

Of the 1344 original image sets, motion artifact score was 2 in 597, 3 in 165, and 4 in 54 sets. MARC significantly improved image quality over all phases showing an average motion artifact score of 1.97 ± 0.72 compared to 2.53 ± 0.71 in original MR images (p < 0.001). MARC improved motion scores from 2 to 1 in 177/596 (29.65%), from 3 to 2 in 119/165 (72.12%), and from 4 to 3 in 34/54 sets (62.96%). Lesion conspicuity was significantly improved (p < 0.001) without removing anatomical details.

Conclusions

Motion artifacts and lesion conspicuity of gadoxetate disodium–enhanced arterial phase liver MRI were significantly improved by the MARC filter, especially in cases with substantial artifacts. This method can be of high clinical value in subjects with failing breath-hold in the scan.

Key Points

• This study presents a newly developed deep learning–based filter for artifact reduction using convolutional neural network (motion artifact reduction with convolutional neural network, MARC).

• MARC significantly improved MR image quality after gadoxetate disodium administration by reducing motion artifacts, especially in cases with severely degraded images.

• Postprocessing with MARC led to better lesion conspicuity without removing anatomical details.

Improved Display of Hepatic Arterial Anatomy Using Differential Subsampling With Cartesian Ordering (DISCO) With Gadoxetic Acid-Enhanced MRI: Comparison With Single Arterial Phase MRI and Computed Tomographic Angiography

BACKGROUND

In clinical practice arterial anatomy evaluation is often determined using computed tomographic angiography (CTA); the effect of enhanced MRI has been neglected.

PURPOSE

To evaluate whether multiple arterial phase (MAP) images from patients who underwent differential subsampling with Cartesian ordering (DISCO) acquisition would improve the hepatic arterial display compared with single arterial phase (SAP) and CTA.

STUDY TYPE

A prospective, randomized trial.

SUBJECTS

In all, 130 patients (mean age, 55.81 ± 9.43 years; range, 35-78 years) including 89 men and 41 women.

FIELD STRENGTH/SEQUENCE

3.0T, DISCO, liver acquisition with volume acceleration-flexible (LAVA-Flex), CTA.

ASSESSMENT

A simple randomization was conducted and the study was subdivided into study part I (DISCO vs. SAP) and study part II (DISCO vs. CTA). Ten hepatic arterial segments were independently evaluated by three readers in the axial plane and the quality of hepatic arterial display was assessed using a four-point scale.

STATISTICAL TESTS

Kendall's W-test, χ² test, Mann-Whitney U-test, and Kruskal-Wallis one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) test.

RESULTS

Excellent interobserver agreement was obtained for hepatic arterial display (all Kendall's W values >0.80). For study part I, the mean arterial display scores for the common hepatic artery (CHA), proper hepatic artery (PHA), left hepatic artery (LHA), right hepatic artery (RHA), left gastric artery (LGA), and gastroduodenal artery (GDA) obtained with DISCO were higher than that obtained with SAP imaging (all P < 0.01). For study part II, comparable image quality for CHA (P = 0.798), PHA (P = 0.440), LHA (P = 0.211), RHA (P = 0.775) LGA (P = 0.468), and GDA (P = 0.801) was obtained with DISCO and CTA.

DATA CONCLUSION

The use of MAP acquisition with DISCO is superior to the use of SAP in hepatic arterial display and compares favorably with CTA; in the future, DISCO possibly can replace the latter ionization-related method to provide a more comprehensive evaluation of the liver arterial vessels.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE

1 Technical Efficacy Stage: 1 J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2020;51:1766-1776.

Gadoxetate acid disodium-enhanced MRI: Multiple arterial phases using differential sub-sampling with cartesian ordering (DISCO) may achieve more optimal late arterial phases than the single arterial phase imaging

BACKGROUND

To prospectively determine whether the use of a multiple arterial phase imaging (DISCO) improve the capturing rate of late arterial phase with less motion artifact than single arterial phase obtained with gadoxetate acid disodium.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

From 06/2017 to 10/2018, prospectively acquired data of 132 patients who underwent either single (n = 67) or multiple arterial phase (n = 65) gadoxetate acid-enhanced MR imaging were analyzed. Two readers independently assessed arterial phase timing and the degree of motion artifact using a five-point scale. The kappa test was used to determine the agreement between the two readers, χ² or fisher exact test were used for the categorical variables and Student t-test or Mann-Whitney U test were used for the comparison of the motion artifacts.

RESULTS

Good to perfect inter-observer agreement was obtained for the arterial phase timing and degree of motion artifact (all kappa value >0.70). Optimal timing of arterial phase was observed in 95.4% (62/65) of multiple arterial phase compared with 73.1% (49/67) of single arterial phase (χ² = 12.209, p < 0.001). Motion artifact score of the late arterial phase images measured using single arterial phase acquisition (3.22 ± 0.68) was significantly higher than the multiple arterial phase (2.42 ± 0.74) group (t = 5.921, p < 0.001). For the multiple arterial phase comparison, motion artifact score of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th phases were also significant reduced compared with 1st, 5th and 6th phases (all p < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

The use of multiple arterial phase acquisition with gadoxetate acid disodium can improve the capturing rate of well-timed late arterial phase with less motion artifact.

Intra-individual comparison of gadolinium-enhanced MRI using pseudo-golden-angle radial acquisition with gadoxetic acid-enhanced MRI for diagnosis of HCCs using LI-RADS

OBJECTIVES

To determine the usefulness of extracellular contrast agent (ECA)-enhanced multiphasic liver magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) using a pseudo-golden-angle radial acquisition scheme by intra-individual comparison with gadoxetic acid-MRI (EOB-MRI) with regard to image quality and the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This prospective study enrolled 15 patients with 18 HCCs who underwent EOB-MRI using a Cartesian approach and ECA-MRI using the pseudo-golden-angle radial acquisition scheme (free-breathing continuous data acquisition for 64 s following ECA injection, generating six images). Two reviewers evaluated the arterial and portal phases of each MRI for artifacts, organ sharpness, and conspicuity of intrahepatic vessels and the hepatic tumors. A Liver Imaging Reporting and Data System category was also assigned to each lesion.

RESULTS

There were no differences in the subjective image quality analysis between the arterial phases of two MRIs (p > 0.05). However, ghosting artifact was seen only in EOB-MRI (N = 3). Six HCCs showed different signal intensities in the arterial phase or portal phase between the two MRIs; five HCCs showed arterial hyperenhancement on ECA-MRI, but not on EOB-MRI. The capsule was observed in 15 HCCs on ECA-MRI and 6 HCCs on EOB-MRI. Five and one HCC were assigned as LR-5 and LR-4 with ECA-MRI and LR-4 and LR-3 with EOB-MRI, respectively.

CONCLUSION

Free-breathing ECA-enhanced multiphasic liver MRI using a pseudo-golden-angle radial acquisition was more sensitive in detecting arterial hyperenhancement of HCC than conventional EOB-MRI, and the image quality was acceptable.

KEY POINTS

• The pseudo-golden-angle radial acquisition scheme can be applied to perform free-breathing multiphasic dynamic liver MRI. • Adopting the pseudo-golden-angle radial acquisition scheme can improve the detection of arterial enhancement of HCC. • The pseudo-golden-angle radial acquisition scheme enables motion-free liver MRI.