title: A method for interleaved acquisition of a vascular input function for dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI in experimental rat tumours.
abstract: Dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI is widely used for the evaluation of the response of experimental rodent tumours to antitumour therapy, particularly for the newly developing antiangiogenic and antivascular agents. However, standard models require a time-course for the plasma concentration of contrast agent (usually referred to as the arterial input function) to calculate the transfer constant K(trans) from the dynamic time-course data. Ideally, the plasma concentration time-course should be measured during each experiment to obtain the most accurate measure of K(trans). This is technically difficult in rodents, so assumed values are generally used. A method is presented here using interleaved acquisitions from a tail coil to obtain the plasma concentration simultaneously with DCE-MRI data obtained from a solenoid coil around the tumour. The SNR of the resulting vascular input function data is high compared with methods using a volume coil to acquire plasma concentrations from the aorta and vena cava.
authors.affiliation: Cancer Research UK Biomedical MR Research Group, Department of Basic Medical Sciences, St George's Hospital Medical School, Cranmer Terrace, Tooting, London SW17 0RE, UK. d.mcintyre@sghms.ac.uk
authors.forename: Dominick J O
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: McIntyre
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ludwig
authors.forename: Amit
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pasan
authors.forename: John R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Griffiths
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001808:Blood Vessels / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000378:metabolism; D003287:Contrast Media / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D009374:Neoplasms, Experimental / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*; D015175:Prolactinoma / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D051381:Rats; D011920:Rats, Inbred WF; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media; D014867:Water