Wei Liu1,2, Baris Turkbey2,
Julien Senegas3, Stefanie Remmele3, Christian Stehning3,
Dagane Daar4, Yuxi Pang5, Marcelino Bernardo4,
Peter Choyke2
1Clinical Sites Research Program,
Philips Research North America, Briarcliff Manor, NY, United States; 2Molecular
Imaging Program, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, United States; 3Sector
of Tomographic Imaging, Philips Research Europe, Hamburg, Germany; 4Molecular
Imaging Program, National Cancer Institute, SAIC-Frederick Inc., Bethesda,
MD, United States; 5Philips Healthcare, Cleveland, OH, United
States
T1
maps from variable flip angle (VFA) approach were compared with Look-Locker
T1 maps to investigate the accuracy of the VFA T1 mapping in prostate cancer
patients. Despite larger variations and lower SNR, VFA T1 mapping
demonstrated a good correlation with the Look-Locker technique for prostate
T1. Pharmacokinetic parameters based on VFA and Look-Locker T1 maps
demonstrated similar performance in differentiation of tumor tissues. Our
results suggest that with actual flip angle correction and slice oversampling
to suppress inflow, VFA approach can generate satisfactory T1 maps for DCE
MRI in patients undergoing MRI for prostate cancer.