Flip angle optimization for dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI-studies with spoiled gradient echo pulse sequences

Abstract

Spoiled gradient echo pulse (SPGRE) sequences are commonly used in dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI) studies to measure the contrast agent concentration in a tissue of interest over time. However, due to improper tuning of the SPGRE parameters, concentration uncertainty can be very high, even at high signal-to-noise ratio in the MR measurement. In this work, an optimization procedure is proposed for selecting the optimal value of the SPGRE-flip angle FAopt, given the expected concentration range. The optimization condition ensures that every concentration in the assumed range has the lowest possible uncertainty. By decoupling the R1- and R*2-effects caused by the presence of the contrast agent, a contour plot has been generated from which FAopt can be read off for any study design. Investigation of ten recent DCE-MRI studies showed that improper flip angle selection unnecessarily increases the concentration uncertainty, up to 742% and 72% on average for the typical physiological concentration ranges of 0–2 mM in tumour tissue and 0–10 mM in blood, respectively. Simulations show that the reduced noise levels on the concentration curves, observed at the optimal flip angle, effectively increase the precision of the kinetic parameters estimates (up to 82% for Ktrans, 82% for νe and 92% for νp in the case of an individually measured arterial input function (AIF), up to 53% for Ktrans, 59% for νe and 67% for νp in the case of a standard AIF). In vivo experiments confirm the potential of flip angle optimization to increase the reproducibility of the kinetic parameter estimates.