Evaluating prostate cancer bone metastasis using accelerated whole-body isotropic 3D T1-weighted Dixon MRI with compressed SENSE: a feasibility study

• Published in: European radiology Vol. 33; no. 3; pp. 1719 - 1728
• Main Authors: Liao, Zhenhong, Liu, Gaoyuan, Ming, Bing, Ma, Chun, Fan, Xigang, Zhang, Xiaoyong, Peng, Wei, Liu, Chen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.03.2023; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Anisotropy; Biopsy; Bone cancer; Diagnostic Radiology; Diagnostic systems; Feasibility Studies; Health risks; High resolution; Humans; Image acquisition; Image contrast; Image quality; Image resolution; Imaging; Imaging, Three-Dimensional - methods; Internal Medicine; Interventional Radiology; Lesions; Magnetic Resonance; Magnetic resonance imaging; Magnetic Resonance Imaging - methods; Male; Medical imaging; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Metastases; Metastasis; Neuroradiology; Prostate cancer; Prostatic Neoplasms - diagnostic imaging; Prostatic Neoplasms - pathology; Radiology; Signal to noise ratio; Ultrasound; Bone metastasis; Whole-body imaging; Prostate cancer; Compressed sensing
• ISSN: 1432-1084; 0938-7994; 1432-1084
• DOI: 10.1007/s00330-022-09181-9

Objectives The study aimed to assess the efficiency of whole-body high-resolution compressed sensing-sensitivity encoding isotropic T1-Weighted Dixon (CSI-T1W-Dixon) scans in evaluating bone metastasis. Methods Forty-five high-risk prostate cancer patients with bone metastases were enrolled prospectively and underwent whole-body MRI sequences, which included the following: pre- and post-contrast CSI-T1W-Dixon and conventional multi-planar T1-Weighted Dixon (CMP-T1W-Dixon) (coronal, sagittal, and axial scans), short tau inversion recovery (STIR), and DWI. Comparison between the CMP-T1W-Dixon and CSI-T1W-Dixon images was done for the subjective image quality, the quantitative contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR), and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Furthermore, the diagnostic performance based on per-lesion and per-patient basis utilizing non-contrast T1-weighted (T1)/T1+ contrasted T1-weighted (T1C)/T1 + T1C + STIR + DWI sequences was compared between the CSI-T1W-Dixon and CMP-T1W-Dixon methods using reference standards (combining biopsy data and 6-month imaging follow-up). Result The CSI-T1W-Dixon images produced fewer image artifacts in the axial and coronal planes compared to the CMP-T1W-Dixon images. Also, the CSI-T1W-Dixon images provided better a CNR in fat-only images of all three planes and water-only images of the axial plane ( p < 0.05). The CSI-T1W-Dixon showed a higher sensitivity than the CMP-T1W-Dixon techniques in analyzing T1-only images on a per-lesion basis (82.7% vs. 53.8% for sensitivity, p = 0.03). On a per-patient basis, no difference was found in the diagnostic capacity between the CSI-T1W-Dixon and CMP-T1W-Dixon sequences either alone or in combinations ( p = 0.57–1). Conclusion High-resolution CSI-T1W-Dixon with higher image quality and diagnostic capacity can replace the CMP-T1W-Dixon method in evaluating bone metastasis in clinical practice. Key Points • Compressed sensing isotropic acquisition for 3D T1-weighted Dixon images can improve the image quality with fewer artifacts compared to the anisotropic multiplanar acquisition. • Compressed sensing isotropic acquisition can save 67% of scanning time compared to anisotropic multiplanar acquisition. • Compressed sensing isotropic 3D T1-weighted Dixon images can offer better diagnostic performance with higher sensitivity compared to anisotropic multiplanar images.