1CMPE, The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, United Kingdom, 2Institute of Cancer Sciences, University Of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom
Dynamic contrast enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI) allows quantitative
assessment of tumour status. The addition of a relaxation rate (R1) measurement following the dynamic acquisition in
DCE-MRI studies allows the uncertainty in the conversion from signal intensity
(S) to R1 to be assessed. In this work the effect of errors in
flip angle and pre-contrast signal estimation on the S(t) to R1(t) conversion were evaluated. Results indicated
that uncertainty in the measurement of Spre had greater effect than realistic flip angle variations on
the S(t) to R1(t)
conversion, and that the error was tissue dependent.