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Hu Z, Li F, Shui J, Tang Y, Lin Q. A Novel Statistical Optimization Algorithm for Estimating Perfusion Curves in Susceptibility Contrast-Enhanced MRI. Front Neurosci 2021; 15:713893. [PMID: 34512247 PMCID: PMC8427443 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2021.713893] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2021] [Accepted: 08/03/2021] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Dynamic susceptibility contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging is an important tool for evaluating intravascular indicator dynamics, which in turn is valuable for understanding brain physiology and pathophysiology. This procedure usually involves fitting a gamma-variate function to observed concentration-time curves in order to eliminate undesired effects of recirculation and the leakage of contrast agents. Several conventional curve-fitting approaches are routinely applied. The nonlinear optimization methods typically are computationally expensive and require reliable initial values to guarantee success, whereas a logarithmic linear least-squares (LL-LS) method is more stable and efficient, and does not suffer from the initial-value problem, but it can show degraded performance, especially when a few data or outliers are present. In this paper, we demonstrate, that the original perfusion curve-fitting problem can be transformed into a gamma-distribution-fitting problem by treating the concentration-time curves as a random sample from a gamma distribution with time as the random variable. A robust maximum-likelihood estimation (MLE) algorithm can then be readily adopted to solve this problem. The performance of the proposed method is compared with the nonlinear Levenberg-Marquardt (L-M) method and the LL-LS method using both synthetic and real data. The results show that the performance of the proposed approach is far superior to those of the other two methods, while keeping the advantages of the LL-LS method, such as easy implementation, low computational load, and dispensing with the need to guess the initial values. We argue that the proposed method represents an attractive alternative option for assessing intravascular indicator dynamics in clinical applications. Moreover, we also provide valuable suggestions on how to select valid data points and set the initial values in the two traditional approaches (LL-LS and nonlinear L-M methods) to achieve more reliable estimations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhenghui Hu
- Key Laboratory of Quantum Precision Measurement, College of Science, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, China
| | - Fei Li
- Key Laboratory of Quantum Precision Measurement, College of Science, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, China
- College of Information Engineering, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, China
| | - Junhui Shui
- Key Laboratory of Quantum Precision Measurement, College of Science, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, China
| | - Yituo Tang
- Key Laboratory of Quantum Precision Measurement, College of Science, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, China
| | - Qiang Lin
- Key Laboratory of Quantum Precision Measurement, College of Science, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, China
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Kellner E, Gall P, Günther M, Reisert M, Mader I, Fleysher R, Kiselev VG. Blood tracer kinetics in the arterial tree. PLoS One 2014; 9:e109230. [PMID: 25299048 PMCID: PMC4192126 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0109230] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/23/2014] [Accepted: 08/16/2014] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Evaluation of blood supply of different organs relies on labeling blood with a suitable tracer. The tracer kinetics is linear: Tracer concentration at an observation site is a linear response to an input somewhere upstream the arterial flow. The corresponding impulse response functions are currently treated empirically without incorporating the relation to the vascular morphology of an organ. In this work we address this relation for the first time. We demonstrate that the form of the response function in the entire arterial tree is reduced to that of individual vessel segments under approximation of good blood mixing at vessel bifurcations. The resulting expression simplifies significantly when the geometric scaling of the vascular tree is taken into account. This suggests a new way to access the vascular morphology in vivo using experimentally determined response functions. However, it is an ill-posed inverse problem as demonstrated by an example using measured arterial spin labeling in large brain arteries. We further analyze transport in individual vessel segments and demonstrate that experimentally accessible tracer concentration in vessel segments depends on the measurement principle. Explicit expressions for the response functions are obtained for the major middle part of the arterial tree in which the blood flow in individual vessel segments can be treated as laminar. When applied to the analysis of regional cerebral blood flow measurements for which the necessary arterial input is evaluated in the carotid arteries, present theory predicts about 20% underestimation, which is in agreement with recent experimental data.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elias Kellner
- Department of Radiology, Medical Physics, University Medical Center Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
- * E-mail:
| | - Peter Gall
- Siemens AG, Healthcare Sector, Erlangen, Germany
| | - Matthias Günther
- Fraunhofer MEVIS, Institute for Medical Image Computing, Bremen, Germany
| | - Marco Reisert
- Department of Radiology, Medical Physics, University Medical Center Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Irina Mader
- Department of Neuroradiology, University Medical Center Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Roman Fleysher
- Gruss Magnetic Resonance Research Center, Department of Radiology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, New York, United States of America
| | - Valerij G. Kiselev
- Department of Radiology, Medical Physics, University Medical Center Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
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Jahng GH, Li KL, Ostergaard L, Calamante F. Perfusion magnetic resonance imaging: a comprehensive update on principles and techniques. Korean J Radiol 2014; 15:554-77. [PMID: 25246817 PMCID: PMC4170157 DOI: 10.3348/kjr.2014.15.5.554] [Citation(s) in RCA: 126] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/08/2014] [Accepted: 07/05/2014] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Perfusion is a fundamental biological function that refers to the delivery of oxygen and nutrients to tissue by means of blood flow. Perfusion MRI is sensitive to microvasculature and has been applied in a wide variety of clinical applications, including the classification of tumors, identification of stroke regions, and characterization of other diseases. Perfusion MRI techniques are classified with or without using an exogenous contrast agent. Bolus methods, with injections of a contrast agent, provide better sensitivity with higher spatial resolution, and are therefore more widely used in clinical applications. However, arterial spin-labeling methods provide a unique opportunity to measure cerebral blood flow without requiring an exogenous contrast agent and have better accuracy for quantification. Importantly, MRI-based perfusion measurements are minimally invasive overall, and do not use any radiation and radioisotopes. In this review, we describe the principles and techniques of perfusion MRI. This review summarizes comprehensive updated knowledge on the physical principles and techniques of perfusion MRI.
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Affiliation(s)
- Geon-Ho Jahng
- Department of Radiology, Kyung Hee University Hospital at Gangdong, College of Medicine, Kyung Hee University, Seoul 134-727, Korea
| | - Ka-Loh Li
- Wolfson Molecular Imaging Center, The University of Manchester, Manchester M20 3LJ, UK
| | - Leif Ostergaard
- Center for Functionally Integrative Neuroscience, Department of Neuroradiology, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus C 8000, Denmark
| | - Fernando Calamante
- Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Heidelberg, Victoria 3084, Australia
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Shiroishi MS, Castellazzi G, Boxerman JL, D'Amore F, Essig M, Nguyen TB, Provenzale JM, Enterline DS, Anzalone N, Dörfler A, Rovira À, Wintermark M, Law M. Principles of T2*-weighted dynamic susceptibility contrast MRI technique in brain tumor imaging. J Magn Reson Imaging 2014; 41:296-313. [DOI: 10.1002/jmri.24648] [Citation(s) in RCA: 85] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/03/2013] [Accepted: 04/03/2014] [Indexed: 01/17/2023] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Mark S. Shiroishi
- Keck School of Medicine; University of Southern California; Los Angeles California USA
| | - Gloria Castellazzi
- Department of Industrial and Information Engineering; University of Pavia; Pavia Italy
- Brain Connectivity Center, IRCCS “C. Mondino Foundation,”; Pavia Italy
| | - Jerrold L. Boxerman
- Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University; Providence Rhode Island USA
| | - Francesco D'Amore
- Keck School of Medicine; University of Southern California; Los Angeles California USA
- Department of Neuroradiology; IRCCS “C. Mondino Foundation,” University of Pavia; Pavia Italy
| | - Marco Essig
- University of Manitoba's Faculty of Medicine; Winnipeg Manitoba Canada
| | - Thanh B. Nguyen
- Faculty of Medicine, Ottawa University; Ottawa Ontario Canada
| | - James M. Provenzale
- Duke University Medical Center; Durham North Carolina USA
- Emory University School of Medicine; Atlanta Georgia USA
| | | | | | - Arnd Dörfler
- University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen; Germany
| | - Àlex Rovira
- Vall d'Hebron University Hospital; Barcelona Spain
| | - Max Wintermark
- School of Medicine; University of Virginia; Charlottesville Virginia USA
| | - Meng Law
- Keck School of Medicine; University of Southern California; Los Angeles California USA
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Reishofer G, Koschutnig K, Langkammer C, Porter D, Jehna M, Enzinger C, Keeling S, Ebner F. Time-optimized high-resolution readout-segmented diffusion tensor imaging. PLoS One 2013; 8:e74156. [PMID: 24019951 PMCID: PMC3760803 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0074156] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/03/2013] [Accepted: 07/28/2013] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Readout-segmented echo planar imaging with 2D navigator-based reacquisition is an uprising technique enabling the sampling of high-resolution diffusion images with reduced susceptibility artifacts. However, low signal from the small voxels and long scan times hamper the clinical applicability. Therefore, we introduce a regularization algorithm based on total variation that is applied directly on the entire diffusion tensor. The spatially varying regularization parameter is determined automatically dependent on spatial variations in signal-to-noise ratio thus, avoiding over- or under-regularization. Information about the noise distribution in the diffusion tensor is extracted from the diffusion weighted images by means of complex independent component analysis. Moreover, the combination of those features enables processing of the diffusion data absolutely user independent. Tractography from in vivo data and from a software phantom demonstrate the advantage of the spatially varying regularization compared to un-regularized data with respect to parameters relevant for fiber-tracking such as Mean Fiber Length, Track Count, Volume and Voxel Count. Specifically, for in vivo data findings suggest that tractography results from the regularized diffusion tensor based on one measurement (16 min) generates results comparable to the un-regularized data with three averages (48 min). This significant reduction in scan time renders high resolution (1×1×2.5 mm3) diffusion tensor imaging of the entire brain applicable in a clinical context.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gernot Reishofer
- Medical University of Graz, Department of Radiology, MR-Physics, Graz, Austria
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Abstract
OBJECTIVE Despite the increasingly broad use of perfusion applications, we still have no generally accessible means for their verification: The common sense of perfusion maps and "bona fides" of perfusion software vendors remain the only grounds for acceptance. Thus, perfusion applications are one of a very few clinical tools considerably lacking practical objective hands-on validation. MATERIALS AND METHODS To solve this problem, we introduce digital perfusion phantoms (DPPs)--numerically simulated DICOM image sequences specifically designed to have known perfusion maps with simple visual patterns. Processing DPP perfusion sequences with any perfusion algorithm or software of choice and comparing the results with the expected DPP patterns provide a robust and straightforward way to control the quality of perfusion analysis, software, and protocols. RESULTS The deviations from the expected DPP maps, observed in each perfusion software, provided clear visualization of processing differences and possible perfusion implementation errors. CONCLUSION Perfusion implementation errors, often hidden behind real-data anatomy and noise, become very visible with DPPs. We strongly recommend using DPPs to verify the quality of perfusion applications.
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Perfusion linearity and its applications in perfusion algorithm analysis. Comput Med Imaging Graph 2011; 36:204-14. [PMID: 21871781 DOI: 10.1016/j.compmedimag.2011.08.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/27/2010] [Revised: 08/01/2011] [Accepted: 08/02/2011] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
Perfusion analysis computes blood flow parameters (blood volume, blood flow, and mean transit time) from the observed flow of a contrast agent passing through the patient's vascular system. Perfusion deconvolution has been widely accepted as the principal numerical tool for perfusion analysis, and is used routinely in clinical applications. The extensive use of perfusion in clinical decision-making makes numerical stability and robustness of perfusion computations vital for accurate diagnostics and patient safety. The main goal of this paper is to propose a novel approach for validating numerical properties of perfusion algorithms. The approach is based on the Perfusion Linearity Property (PLP), which is fundamental to virtually all perfusion data processing. PLP allows one to study perfusion values as weighted averages of the original imaging data. This, in turn, uncovers hidden problems with the existing perfusion techniques, and may be used to suggest more reliable computational approaches and methodology.
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Dynamic Perfusion MRI Characteristics of Dural Metastases and Meningiomas: A Pilot Study Characterizing the First-Pass Wash-In Phase Beyond Relative Cerebral Blood Volume. AJR Am J Roentgenol 2011; 196:886-90. [DOI: 10.2214/ajr.10.5309] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
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Bleeker EJW, van Osch MJP, Connelly A, van Buchem MA, Webb AG, Calamante F. New criterion to aid manual and automatic selection of the arterial input function in dynamic susceptibility contrast MRI. Magn Reson Med 2010; 65:448-56. [PMID: 21264935 DOI: 10.1002/mrm.22599] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2010] [Revised: 07/01/2010] [Accepted: 07/20/2010] [Indexed: 01/12/2023]
Abstract
Dynamic susceptibility contrast-MRI requires an arterial input function (AIF) to obtain cerebral blood flow, cerebral blood volume, and mean transit time. The current AIF selection criteria discriminate venous, capillary, and arterial profiles based on shape and timing characteristics of the first passage. Unfortunately, partial volume effects can lead to shape errors in the bolus passage, including a narrower and higher peak, which might be selected as a "correct" AIF. In this study, a new criterion is proposed that detects shape errors based on tracer kinetic principles for computing cerebral blood volume. This criterion uses the ratio of the steady-state value to the area-under-the-curve of the first passage, which should result in an equal value for tissue and arterial responses. By using a reference value from tissue, partial volume effects-induced shape errors of the AIF measurement can be detected. Different factors affecting the ratio were investigated using simulations. These showed that the new criterion should only be used in studies with T(1) -insensitive acquisition. In vivo data were used to evaluate the proposed approach. The data showed that the new criterion enables detection of shape errors, although false positives do occur, which could be easily avoided when combined with current AIF selection criteria.
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Affiliation(s)
- Egbert J W Bleeker
- Department of Radiology, C.J. Gorter Center for High Field MRI, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands
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Kosior JC, Frayne R. Perfusion parameters derived from bolus-tracking perfusion imaging are immune to tracer recirculation. J Magn Reson Imaging 2010; 31:753-6. [DOI: 10.1002/jmri.22052] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
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Knutsson L, Ståhlberg F, Wirestam R. Absolute quantification of perfusion using dynamic susceptibility contrast MRI: pitfalls and possibilities. MAGNETIC RESONANCE MATERIALS IN PHYSICS BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE 2009; 23:1-21. [DOI: 10.1007/s10334-009-0190-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 71] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/26/2009] [Revised: 11/11/2009] [Accepted: 11/12/2009] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
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12
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Extraction of the first bolus passage in dynamic susceptibility contrast perfusion measurements. MAGNETIC RESONANCE MATERIALS IN PHYSICS BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE 2009; 22:241-9. [DOI: 10.1007/s10334-009-0170-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/29/2008] [Revised: 03/27/2009] [Accepted: 03/27/2009] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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