Abstract
Aim and scopeA Gradient Echo Plural Contrast Imaging technique (GEPCI) is a post-processing method, which can be used to obtain quantitative T2* values and generate multiple synthetic contrasts from a single acquisition. However, scan duration and image reconstruction from k-space data present challenges in a clinical workflow. This study aimed at optimizing image reconstruction and acquisition duration to facilitate a post-processing method for synthetic image contrast creation in clinical settings. Materials and methodsThis study consists of tests using the American College of Radiology (ACR) image quality phantom, two healthy volunteers, four mild traumatic brain injury patients and four small vessel disease patients. The measurements were carried out on a 3.0 T scanner with multiple echo times. Reconstruction from k-space data and DICOM data with two different coil-channel combination modes were investigated. Partial Fourier techniques were tested to optimize the scanning time. ConclusionsSum of squares coil-channel combination produced artifacts in phase images, but images created with adaptive combination were artifact-free. The voxel-wise median signed difference of T2* between the vendor’s adaptive channel combination and k-space reconstruction modes was 2.9 ± 0.7 ms for white matter and 4.5 ± 0.6 ms for gray matter. Relative white matter/gray matter contrast of all synthetic images and contrast-to-noise ratio of synthetic T1-weighted images were almost equal between reconstruction modes. Our results indicate that synthetic contrasts can be generated from the vendor’s DICOM data with the adaptive combination mode without affecting the quantitative T2* values or white matter/gray matter contrast.
Highlights
The Gradient Echo Plural Contrast Imaging technique (GEPCI) can be used to obtain quantitative T2* values and multiple synthetic contrasts from a single multi-echo gradient echo acquisition [1]
We observed that ΔT2* was more dependent on the slice thickness than the reconstruction mode, and that differences were larger between two adjacent measurements with k-space reconstruction than between different reconstructions
In the SSM phase images an artefact was observed (Fig. 1, right bottom), and these images were not analyzed further. This artefact is caused by the lack of phase-offset adjustment between different channels, and it would prevent the adequate production of all susceptibility weighted images (SWI)-kind synthetic contrasts
Summary
The Gradient Echo Plural Contrast Imaging technique (GEPCI) can be used to obtain quantitative T2* values and multiple synthetic contrasts from a single multi-echo gradient echo acquisition [1]. The clinical potential of this imaging method has been explored in multiple sclerosis [2,3,4], Alzheimer’s disease [5] and psychiatric diseases [6] These synthetic contrasts could find applications in imaging of brain trauma or small vessel disease as susceptibility weighted images (SWI), T1-weighted images, and T2* contrasts obtainable with GEPCI post-processing are commonly used in these clinical settings [7]. An acquisition with a 32-channel head coil, resolution of 1.0 × 1.0 × 2.0 mm, field of view (FOV) 256 mm × 192 mm, and 64 slices results in 21 GB of raw data Such a large amount of data complicates the offline reconstruction by requiring considerable network and storage capacity. The use of DICOM images would facilitate management and transfer of the data in a hospital environment
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