title: Artifact-reduced simultaneous MRI of multiple rats with liver cancer using PROPELLER.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To explore simultaneous magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for multiple hepatoma-bearing rats in a single session suppressing motion- and flow-related artifacts to conduct preclinical cancer research efficiently.
  
  
  METHODS
  Our institutional Animal Experimental Committee approved this study. We acquired PROPELLER (periodically rotated overlapping parallel lines with enhanced reconstruction) T2 - and diffusion-weighted images of the liver in one healthy and 11 N1-S1 hepatoma-bearing rats in three sessions using a 3-T clinical scanner and dedicated multiarray coil. We compared tumor volumes on MR images and those on specimens, evaluated apparent diffusion coefficients (ADC) of the tumor, and compared them to previously reported values.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Each MRI session took 39-50 minutes from anesthesia induction to the end of scans for four rats (10-13 minutes per rat). PROPELLER provided artifact-reduced T2 - and diffusion-weighted images of the rat livers. Tumor volumes on MR images ranged from 0.04-1.81 cm(3) and were highly correlated with those on specimens. The ADC was 1.57 ± 0.37 × 10(-3) mm(2) /s (average ± SD), comparable to previously reported values.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  PROPELLER allowed simultaneous acquisition of artifact-reduced T2 - and diffusion-weighted images of multiple hepatoma-bearing rats. This technique can promote high-throughput preclinical MR research for liver cancer.
authors.affiliation: Functional Imaging Division, Research Center for Innovative Oncology, National Cancer Center Hospital East, Kashiwa, Chiba, Japan. masyamag@east.ncc.go.jp
authors.forename: Masayuki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yamaguchi
authors.forename: Minoru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mitsuda
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ezawa
authors.forename: Ryutaro
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Nakagami
authors.forename: Toshihiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Furuta
authors.forename: Norio
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Sekine
authors.forename: Mamoru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Niitsu
authors.forename: Hirofumi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fujii
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D000818:Animals; D016477:Artifacts; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000473:pathology*; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D005260:Female; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity