Enhancement of Long-Term External–Internal Correlation by Phase-Shift Detection and Correction Based on Concurrent External Bellows and Internal Navigator Signals

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to enhance the correlation between external and internal respiratory motions by dynamically determining and correcting the patient-specific phase shift between external and internal respiratory waveforms acquired concurrently during respiratory-correlated 4-dimensional magnetic resonance imaging scans. Methods and MaterialsInternal-navigator and external-bellows waveforms were acquired simultaneously during 6- to 15-minute respiratory-correlated 4-dimensional magnetic resonance imaging scans in 10 healthy participants under an institutional review board–approved protocol. The navigator was placed at the right lung–diaphragm interface, and the bellows were placed ∼5 cm inferior to the sternum. Three segments of each respiratory waveform, at the beginning, middle, and end of a scan, were analyzed. Three phase-domain methods were employed to estimate the phase shift, including analytical signal analysis, phase-space oval fitting, and principal component analysis. A robust strategy for estimating the phase shift was realized by combining these methods in a weighted average and by eliminating outliers (>2 σ) caused by breathing irregularities. Whether phase-shift correction affects the external-internal correlation was evaluated. The cross-correlation between the 2 waveforms in the time domain provided an independent check of the correlation enhancement. ResultsPhase-shift correction significantly enhanced the external-internal correlation in all participants across the entire 6- to 15-minute scans. On average, the correlation increased from 0.45 ± 0.28 to 0.85 ± 0.15 for the combined method. The combined method exhibited a 99.5% success rate and revealed that the phase of the external waveform leads that of the internal waveform in all 10 participants by 57 o ± 17o (1.6 ± 0.5 bins) on average. Seven participants exhibited highly reproducible phase shifts over time, evidenced by standard deviations (σ) < 4o, whereas 8o < σ < 12o in the remaining 3 participants. Regardless, phase-shift correction significantly improved the correlation in all participants. ConclusionsCorrecting the phase shift estimated by the phase-domain methods provides a new approach for enhancing the correlation between external and internal respiratory motions. This strategy holds promise for improving the accuracy of respiratory-gated radiation therapy.