Test-Retest Reproducibility of MTR, T2 and 3-Point Dixon Fat Quantification Methods in Muscle MRI

Chris David James Sinclair^1,2, Jasper M. Morrow¹, Tarek A. Yousry^1,2, Xavier Golay², John S. Thornton^1,2

We performed a test-retest reproducibility study of histogram metrics in the thigh and calf muscles of 8 healthy individuals. Quantitative maps of MT ratio, T2 relaxation time and 3-point Dixon fat-fraction were acquired from each subject twice with a between scan interval of 14 days. The inter-scan reproducibility of the fitted histogram peak position was evaluated using intra-class correlation coefficients and Bland-Altman plots. No systematic differences were noted and most variability could be attributed to differences between individuals, providing confidence that similar implementation of these methods may be used as potential markers of neuromuscular disease in patient groups.