Program Information

Geometric Validation of K-Space Self-Gated 4D-MRI Vs. 4D-CT Using A Respiratory Motion Phantom

Y Yue

Y Yue*, Z Fan , W Yang , J Pang , E McKenzie , Z Deng , R Tuli , H Sandler , D Li , B Fraass , Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA

Presentations

TH-E-17A-4 Thursday 1:00PM - 2:50PM Room: 17A

Purpose: 4D-CT is often limited by motion artifacts, low temporal resolution, and poor phase-based target definition. We recently developed a novel k-space self-gated 4D-MRI technique with high spatial and temporal resolution. The goal here is to geometrically validate 4D-MRI using a MRI-CT compatible respiratory motion phantom and comparison to 4D-CT.

Methods:4D-MRI was acquired using 3T spoiled gradient echo-based 3D projection sequences. Respiratory phases were resolved using self-gated k-space lines as the motion surrogate. Images were reconstructed into 10 temporal bins with 1.56x1.56x1.56mm3. A MRI-CT compatible phantom was designed with a 23mm diameter ball target filled with high-concentration gadolinium(Gd) gel embedded in a 35x40x63mm3 plastic box stabilized with low-concentration Gd gel. The whole phantom was driven by an air pump. Human respiratory motion was mimicked using the controller from a commercial dynamic phantom (RSD). Four breathing settings (rates/depths: 10s/20mm, 6s/15mm, 4s/10mm, 3s/7mm) were scanned with 4D-MRI and 4D-CT (slice thickness 1.25mm). Motion ground-truth was obtained from input signals and real-time video recordings. Reconstructed images were imported into Eclipse(Varian) for target contouring. Volumes and target positions were compared with ground-truth. Initial human study was investigated on a liver patient.

Results:4D-MRI and 4D-CT scans for the different breathing cycles were reconstructed with 10 phases. Target volume in each phase was measured for both 4D-CT and 4D-MRI. Volume percentage difference for the 6.37ml target ranged from 6.67±5.33 to 11.63±5.57 for 4D-CT and from 1.47±0.52 to 2.12±1.60 for 4D-MRI. The Mann-Whitney U-test shows the 4D-MRI is significantly superior to 4D-CT (p=0.021) for phase-based target definition. Centroid motion error ranges were 1.35-1.25mm (4D-CT), and 0.31-0.12mm (4D-MRI).

Conclusion: The k-space self-gated 4D-MRI we recently developed can accurately determine phase-based target volume while avoiding typical motion artifacts found in 4D-CT, and is being further studied for use in GI targeting and motion management.


Funding Support, Disclosures, and Conflict of Interest: This work supported in part by grant 1R03CA173273-01


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