title: Fast pediatric 3D free-breathing abdominal dynamic contrast enhanced MRI with high spatiotemporal resolution.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To develop a method for fast pediatric 3D free-breathing abdominal dynamic contrast enhanced (DCE) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and investigate its clinical feasibility.
  
  
  METHODS
  A combined locally low rank parallel imaging method with soft gating is proposed for free-breathing DCE MRI acquisition. With Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval and informed consent/assent, 23 consecutive pediatric patients were recruited for this study. Free-breathing DCE MRI with ∼1 mm(3) spatial resolution and a 6.5-sec frame rate was acquired on a 3T scanner. Undersampled data were reconstructed with a compressed sensing method without motion correction (FB-CS) and the proposed method (FB-LR). A follow-up respiratory-triggered acquisition (RT-CS) was performed as a reference standard. The reconstructed images were evaluated independently by two radiologists. Wilcoxon tests were performed to test the hypothesis that there was no significant difference between different reconstructions. Quantitative evaluation of contrast dynamics was also performed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean score of overall image quality of FB-LR was 4.0 on a 5-point scale, significantly better (P < 0.05) than FB-CS reconstruction (mean score 2.9), and similar to RT-CS (mean score 4.1). FB-LR also matched the temporal fidelity of contrast dynamics with a root mean square error less than 5%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Fast 3D free-breathing DCE MRI with high scan efficiency and image quality similar to respiratory-triggered acquisition is feasible in a pediatric clinical setting.
authors.affiliation: Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA.
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Joseph Y
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: Aaron G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Potnick
authors.forename: Richard A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Barth
authors.forename: Marcus T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Alley
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Uecker
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lustig
authors.forename: John M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Pauly
authors.forename: Shreyas S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Vasanawala
mesh_terms: D000005:Abdomen; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003287:Contrast Media; D044962:Data Compression / Q000379:methods; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000379:methods*; D007223:Infant; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D012119:Respiration
chemical_list: D003287:Contrast Media
keywords: compressed sensing; low rank; parallel imaging; pediatric dynamic contrast enhanced abdominal MRI