Lauren Jean Bains1,2, Josephine H. Naish1,2,
David L. Buckley3
1Imaging Science and Biomedical
Engineering, School of Cancer and Imaging Sciences, University of Manchester,
Manchester, Greater Manchester, United Kingdom; 2University of
Manchester Biomedical Imaging Institute, University of Manchester,
Manchester, Greater Manchester, United Kingdom; 3Division of
Medical Physics, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom
Quantitative
DCE-MRI benefits from the use of individual patient AIFs, however, accurate
MRI-based AIF measurements are complicated by partial volume and inflow
effects. We tested two methods of AIF
correction based on cardiac output, and evaluated their effects on DCE-MRI
tracer kinetic parameter estimates by comparing these estimates with DCE-CT,
a modality which is unaffected by many of the artefacts that are problematic
in DCE-MRI. Our results show that the
use of cardiac output to correct DCE-MRI produces parameter estimates which
are significantly closer to DCE-CT with reduced variance; the use of such
corrections may significantly benefit DCE-MRI analyses.