Abstract
The purpose of this work is to evaluate the feasibility of performing magnetic resonance fingerprinting (MRF) on older and lower-performance MRI hardware as a means to bring advanced imaging to the aging MRI install base. Phantom and in vivo experiments were performed on a 1.5T Siemens Aera (installed 2015) and 1.5T Siemens Symphony (installed 2002). A 2D spiral MRF sequence for simultaneous T1/T2/M0 mapping was implemented on both scanners with different gradient trajectories to accommodate system specifications. In phantom, for T1/T2 values in a physiologically relevant range (T1: 195–1539 ms; T2: 20–267 ms), scanners had strong correlation (R2 > 0.999) with average absolute percent difference of 8.1% and 10.1%, respectively. Comparison of the two trajectories on the newer scanner showed differences of 2.6% (T1) and 10.9% (T2), suggesting a partial explanation of the observed inter-scanner bias. Inter-scanner agreement was better when the same trajectory was used, with differences of 6.0% (T1) and 4.0% (T2). Intra-scanner coefficient of variation (CV) of T1 and T2 estimates in phantom were <2.0% and in vivo were ≤3.5%. In vivo inter-scanner white matter CV was 4.8% (T1) and 5.1% (T2). White matter measurements on the aging scanner after two months were consistent, with differences of 1.9% (T1) and 3.9% (T2). In conclusion, MRF is feasible on an aging MRI scanner and required only changes to the gradient trajectory.
Highlights
Recent advances in MRI data acquisition and reconstruction methods enable rapid scanning and multiparametric quantitative imaging [1,2]
We explore the feasibility of performing magnetic resonance fingerprinting (MRF) on aging MRI hardware as a step towards implementing this advanced technology on older and less powerful scanner platforms to democratize the deployment of this advanced technology
While this work is a demonstration that MRF can be used on an older MRI system after modest adjustments of an implementation originally designed for a modern MRI system, our goal is to show that it may be possible to deploy MRF for high-value imaging on scanners designed to have more modest performance and a lower cost
Summary
Recent advances in MRI data acquisition and reconstruction methods enable rapid scanning and multiparametric quantitative imaging [1,2]. Such techniques often require high-end MRI hardware, including high-performance gradient systems, exceptional field homogeneity, and receive coil arrays with a large number of channels. Reports have shown that the cost of a new 1.5T scanner is approximately $1.4M to $1.5M USD, with new ‘low-end’ scanners costing between $600,000 to $800,000 USD [5] This large upfront investment in new hardware is prohibitive for many imaging centers worldwide, slowing the widespread use of advanced imaging. There is a need for an MR imaging framework that can provide high-end, advanced imaging to existing scanners with their limited hardware set-ups across the install base
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