title: A versatile flow phantom for intravoxel incoherent motion MRI.
abstract: Although there have been many advancements in cancer research, much is still unknown about the heterogeneous tumor microenvironment. Diffusion-weighted MRI has proven to be a viable and versatile microstructural probe. Diffusion-weighted sequences specifically sensitive to intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) have seen a recent resurgence of interest as they promise to provide a valuable window on the vascular microenvironment. To understand, test, and optimize IVIM-sensitive approaches, a complex flow phantom was constructed to mimic certain characteristics of the tumor microenvironment such as tortuous microvasculature, heterogeneous vascular permeability, and interstitial fluid pressure buildup. Results using this phantom on a clinical scanner platform confirmed IVIM sensitivity to microscopic flow effects. Biexponential fitting of signal decay curves enabled quantitative extraction of perfusion fraction, IVIM-related pseudodiffusivity, and tissue diffusivity. Parametric maps were also generated, illustrating the potential utility of IVIM-sensitive imaging in clinical settings. The flow phantom proved to be an effective test-bed for validating and optimizing the IVIM-MRI technique to provide surrogate markers for microvascular properties.
authors: Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York 10016-3295, USA. gyc219@nyumc.org
authors: Gene Y
authors: GY
authors: Cho
authors: Sungheon
authors: S
authors: Kim
authors: Jens H
authors: JH
authors: Jensen
authors: Pippa
authors: P
authors: Storey
authors: Daniel K
authors: DK
authors: Sodickson
authors: Eric E
authors: EE
authors: Sigmund
mesh_terms: D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D018810:Magnetic Resonance Angiography / Q000295:instrumentation*; D009038:Motion; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012212:Rheology / Q000295:instrumentation*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity