Dual echo gradient echo imaging for simultaneous thermal mapping in cortical bone and soft tissue

Elizabeth Ramsay,Charles Mougenot,Mohammad Kazem,Theodore W Laetsch,Rajiv Chopra

doi:10.1186/2050-5736-3-s1-o47

Abstract

MRI-guided high-intensity focused ultrasound (MR-HIFU) therapy can relieve pain associated with metastatic and benign bone tumours in patients who fail to respond to conventional radiation therapy. However, since existing MR-thermometry techniques do not provide temperature information within the bone, HIFU exposures in bone are currently monitored using temperature changes in adjacent soft tissues. In this study, a standard dual echo spoiled gradient echo (SPGR) sequence is proposed to monitor thermal effects in both bone and soft tissue simultaneously. Magnitude signal changes at the shorter TE (~1ms) reflect thermal changes in cortical bone, while phase changes at the longer TE (~10ms) allow conventional PRF thermometry in surrounding tissues.

Highlights

Background/introduction MRI-guided high-intensity focused ultrasound (MRHIFU) therapy can relieve pain associated with metastatic and benign bone tumours in patients who fail to respond to conventional radiation therapy
Magnitude signal changes at the shorter TE (~1ms) reflect thermal changes in cortical bone, while phase changes at the longer TE (~10ms) allow conventional PRF thermometry in surrounding tissues
As shown in the Figure, local cortical bone temperature changes were well-correlated temporally (1B) and spatially (1C) with changes in signal magnitude at short (~1ms) echo times, while temperature in the gel could be measured via changes in the voxel phase at long (10ms) echo times (1D)

Summary

Introduction

Background/introduction MRI-guided high-intensity focused ultrasound (MRHIFU) therapy can relieve pain associated with metastatic and benign bone tumours in patients who fail to respond to conventional radiation therapy. Dual echo gradient echo imaging for simultaneous thermal mapping in cortical bone and soft tissue Elizabeth Ramsay1*, Charles Mougenot2, Mohammad Kazem1, Theodore W Laetsch3, Rajiv Chopra3

Results

Conclusion