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Original Research |
1 Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Cheju National University Hospital, Cheju
National University College of Medicine, 154, 3-do 2-dong, Jeju City, Jeju-Do,
690-716, Korea.
2 Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Soonchunhyang University Hospital, Seoul,
Korea.
3 Department of Internal Medicine, Cheju National University Hospital, Cheju
National University College of Medicine, Jeju, Korea.
4 Department of Information and Statistics, Daejeon University, Daejeon,
Korea.
Received February 13, 2007;
accepted after revision August 22, 2007.
WEB This is a Web exclusive article.
Abstract
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MATERIALS AND METHODS. Forty-nine patients with 86 focal liver lesions (56 malignant, 30 benign) underwent liver MRI with free-breathing sequences: turbo spin-echo (TSE) with navigator-triggered prospective acquisition correction (PACE), respiration-triggered TSE, and HASTE with navigator-triggered PACE. The images were retrospectively reviewed by two independent observers. Diagnostic performance was evaluated with receiver operating characteristics and sensitivity. The images were assessed quantitatively by measurement of the liver signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and the lesion-to-liver contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR).
RESULTS. The PACE TSE sequence had better receiver operating characteristic curves for lesion detection and characterization than did the respiration-triggered TSE sequence, but the difference was not statistically significant (p > 0.05). The PACE TSE sequence had a significantly greater area under the curve for lesion detection (p < 0.01) and lesion characterization (p < 0.001) than did the PACE HASTE sequence. The composite sensitivity of the PACE TSE sequence for lesion detection was significantly higher than that of respiration-triggered TSE (p < 0.05) and PACE HASTE (p < 0.01). The mean signal-to-noise ratio for liver and the contrast-to-noise ratio for hepatic lesions were higher with the PACE HASTE than with the other sequences.
CONCLUSION. The navigator-triggered PACE technique is a valid method for T2-weighted MRI of the liver and may replace conventional respiration-triggered techniques.
Keywords: comparative studies liver neoplasms MRI pulse sequences
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Various techniques have been used to reduce respiratory artifacts [1-5]. A straightforward strategy is to use fast imaging. Because the typical breathing cycle of adult humans lasts 4-5 seconds, respiratory motion is essentially frozen if all of the k-space data can be acquired faster than that [6-8]. However, although fast-imaging pulse sequences such as breath-hold turbo spin-echo (TSE) and single-shot sequences can effectively freeze respiratory motion, spatial resolution of the resultant images usually is poor, and artifacts inherent to fast imaging often become troublesome. Another strategy for addressing respiratory motion is the respiration-triggering method. Several investigators have reported that respiratory triggering in T2-weighted imaging allows extension of the acquisition time. The longer acquisition time increases spatial resolution and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), improving liver-lesion contrast and detection of focal liver lesions [9-12].
In the navigator-triggered prospective acquisition correction (PACE) technique, virtual respiratory monitoring with navigator echoes is used to trace the superoinferior movement of the diaphragm during the respiratory cycle. In the conventional respiration-triggering method, changes in the anteroposterior diameter of the chest cavity are measured with pressure transducers [13-15]. The PACE technique is a real-time gradient-recalled echo fast low-angle shot navigator sequence for monitoring diaphragmatic movement. Sampling data about the respiratory cycle are used to synchronize data acquisition to the underlying MRI sequence. The purpose of our study was to compare the efficacy of the following three sequences in the detection and characterization of focal liver lesions: TSE performed with navigator-triggered PACE, respiration-triggered TSE, and HASTE performed with navigator-triggered PACE.
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The 49 study patients had a total of 86 focal liver lesions. The final diagnoses (Table 1) were based on histologic findings, clinical evidence, typical CT and MRI findings, and laboratory findings. Eleven patients had two kinds of diagnoses. Histologic specimens were obtained with surgical biopsy or percutaneous needle biopsy. The clinical evidence of malignant tumors was obtained with follow-up iodized oil-enhanced CT after transcatheter arterial chemoembolization in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma or on the basis of an increase in size and number of tumors over time on serial follow-up contrast-enhanced CT examinations of patients with metastasis. The clinical diagnosis of liver abscess was based on a decrease in size and number of lesions over time on serial follow-up imaging studies after antibiotic therapy.
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MRI Technique
MRI was performed on a 1.5-T system (Magnetom Sonata Maestro, Siemens
Medical Solutions) with high-performance gradients (maximum gradient strength,
40 mT/m; peak slew rate, 200 mT/m/ms). A dedicated 12-element surface-coil
array was used as the radiofrequency receiver. The section thickness was 5 mm
with a 1.5-mm interslice gap for all T2-weighted sequences. All T2-weighted
images were acquired in the axial plane with parallel imaging. A generalized
autocalibrating partially parallel acquisitions algorithm was used with an
acceleration factor of two and 34 extra reference lines. The imaging range
covered the entire liver in all subjects. The phase-encoding direction was
anterior to posterior. Fat suppression was not applied. The protocol was
composed of a free-breathing T2-weighted TSE sequence with navigator-triggered
PACE, a respiration-triggered T2-weighted TSE sequence, and a HASTE sequence
with navigator-triggered PACE. The technical parameters are listed in
Table 2.
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PACE is a 2D navigator-based technique in which the position of the diaphragm is repeatedly measured. The coronal 2D gradient-echo fast low-angle shot sequence was performed with the following parameters: TR/TE, 7.1/3.4; slice thickness, 10 mm; field of view, 256 x 512 mm; bandwidth, 260 Hz/pixel; flip angle, 3°; matrix size, 256 x 12. Measurement of the position of the diaphragm was repeated every 150 milliseconds so that a continuous curve of the position was generated. Within each navigator image, a window (96 x 32 mm2) was moved in the readout direction within a search range (± 100 mm) relative to a similar window in the reference image. With the technique, the position of the diaphragm before measurement of a new image stack was compared with the position in the first acquired image stack. The position of the following measurements was prospectively corrected. The TR was 1 multiplied by the respiratory cycle.
In the respiration-triggered T2-weighted TSE sequence, the respiratory bellows signal is used to generate a respiratory trigger. The trigger point within the respiratory cycle can be selected. We chose a trigger point just before end expiration with a threshold of 20% so that data acquisition would occur during a period of reduced respiratory motion. The mean acquisition times of the PACE TSE, respiration-triggered TSE, and PACE HASTE sequences were 3.18, 6.17, and 3.17 minutes, respectively.
Qualitative Image Analysis
MR images were retrospectively analyzed by two experienced radiologists
with 6 years of experience in abdominal MRI. The reviewers were blinded to
patient identification, clinical history, biopsy results, and other imaging
findings. Image review was separated into three sessions at 4-week intervals.
Images with only one of the three free-breathing T2-weighted sequences were
reviewed at each session and were independently assessed by the two
reviewers.
Image Quality
The reviewers graded the overall image quality of each T2-weighted sequence
using the following 5-point scale: 1, unacceptable; 2, poor; 3, fair; 4, good;
5, excellent. The presence of artifacts such as respiratory ghosting, vascular
pulsation, peristalsis, and susceptibility was graded 1, severe; 2, moderate;
3, mild; 4, minimal; 5, absent. Depiction of the intrahepatic vessels was
assessed with the following criteria: 1, unacceptable (invisible main portal
vein); 2, poor (only main portal vein visible); 3, fair (only main branch of
portal vein visible); 4, good (peripheral portal vein sometimes visible); 5,
excellent (clearly visible peripheral portal vein). Image sharpness was graded
1, unacceptable; 2, poor; 3, fair; 4, good; 5, excellent.
Lesion Detection and Characterization
Both reviewers independently evaluated the overall number of hepatic
lesions per sequence on a segment-by-segment basis. For each pulse sequence,
the reviewers recorded the location of visible abnormalities and then assigned
one of five confidence levels: 1, definitely absent; 2, probably absent; 3,
possibly present; 4, probably present; 5, definitely present. The reviewers
then characterized each detected lesion using a 5-point scale: 1, definitely
benign; 2, probably benign; 3, indeterminate; 4, probably malignant; 5,
definitely malignant.
Quantitative Analysis
Quantitative image analysis was performed by an abdominal radiologist who
measured the signal intensity of the liver and the focal liver lesion and the
SD of the background noise using operator-defined regions of interest for each
image. This radiologist did not participate in the qualitative image analysis.
Signal intensity in the liver was measured in the same location in each
sequence and in areas devoid of a large intrahepatic vessel or prominent
artifacts. For all measurements, the size of the region of interest was
identical in all three sequences. The SD of the background noise was measured
in the largest possible region of interest positioned in the phase-encoding
direction outside the abdominal wall. For measurement of the focal liver
lesions, the region of interest was positioned to avoid necrotic foci. For
small hepatic lesions, the image was magnified to place a region of interest.
Liver SNR (SIliver/SDnoise) and lesion-to-liver
contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) ([SIlesion -
SIliver]/SDnoise), where SI is signal intensity, were
calculated.
Statistical Analysis
The statistical significance of the data from the qualitative analysis for
image quality was determined with Friedman two-way analysis of variance by
ranks (SPSS version 12.0 for Windows, SPSS). Receiver operating characteristic
curve analysis was performed to evaluate lesion detection and characterization
for the reference standard
[16]. In interpretation of
each imaging sequence, each reviewer's performance and a composite performance
that combined the performances of all reviewers were evaluated by means of
calculation of the area under the receiver operating characteristics curve
(Az) with MedCalc software version 8.1 for Windows (MedCalc). The
relative sensitivity of lesion detection and differentiation of malignant from
benign tumors was calculated for lesions allocated a rating of 3 or higher.
The individual and composite sensitivities that combined the performance of
all reviewers were compared by use of the generalized linear mixed models in
SAS 8.02 for Windows (SAS Institute).
To assess interobserver variability in interpreting the images, the weighted kappa statistics of SAS version 8.02 were used to measure the degree of agreement between the two interpreters [17]. A kappa value up to 0.40 indicated positive but poor agreement, a value of 0.41-0.75 indicated good agreement, and a value greater than 0.75 indicated excellent agreement. The liver SNR and lesion-to-liver CNR data were compared for each sequence by use of the linear mixed models of SAS version 8.02. A value of p < 0.05 indicated a statistically significant difference.
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Lesion detection and characterization— The individual and mean Az values for the three MRI pulse sequences for lesion detection and characterization are shown in Table 4. In lesion detection the PACE TSE sequence had the highest Az value followed by the respiration-triggered TSE and PACE HASTE sequences (Fig. 2A, 2B, 2C). There was no statistically significant difference between PACE TSE and respiration-triggered TSE. The individual and mean Az values of the PACE TSE sequence were significantly higher than those of the PACE HASTE sequence. PACE TSE had the best diagnostic performance for differentiating malignant from benign lesions and was followed by respiration-triggered TSE and PACE HASTE. There was no statistically significant difference between PACE TSE and respiration-triggered TSE. The individual and mean Az values of the PACE TSE and respiration-triggered TSE sequences were significantly higher than those of the PACE HASTE sequence.
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The sensitivities in detection of lesions and differentiation of malignant from benign tumors with each pulse sequence are shown in Table 5. For detecting lesions, one reviewer had significantly better diagnostic performance with the PACE TSE sequence than with the respiration-triggered TSE sequence. The composite sensitivity of the PACE TSE sequence was significantly higher than that of either the respiration-triggered TSE or the PACE HASTE sequence (Figs. 3A, 3B, 3C and 4A, 4B, 4C). For the two reviewers, the individual sensitivity with PACE TSE was significantly higher than that with PACE HASTE. In differentiating malignant from benign tumors, one reviewer had significantly better diagnostic performance with PACE TSE than with respiration-triggered TSE. The composite sensitivity of PACE TSE was higher than that of respiration-triggered TSE, but the difference was not statistically significant. For the two reviewers, the individual sensitivity of PACE TSE was significantly higher than that of PACE HASTE. The kappa values for the two reviewers, which were calculated on the basis of each interpreter's confidence level in detection and characterization in the receiver operating characteristics analysis, ranged from 0.728 to 0.929 (Table 6). Interobserver agreement for the two reviewers was good and excellent with regard to the presence and characterization, respectively, of lesions.
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Quantitative Analysis
The quantitative results of assessments of the mean liver SNR and
lesion-to-liver CNR with each pulse sequence are shown in
Table 7. The mean liver SNR and
lesion-to-liver CNR were highest with the PACE HASTE sequence, followed by the
respiration-triggered TSE and PACE TSE sequences. The SNR with the PACE HASTE
sequence was significantly higher than that with either the PACE TSE or the
respiration-triggered TSE sequence. For benign lesions, the mean
lesion-to-liver CNR with the PACE HASTE sequence was significantly higher than
that with the PACE TSE sequence and was slightly higher than that with
respiration-triggered TSE but not statistically significantly so. For
malignant lesions, there was no statistically significant difference in mean
lesion-to-liver CNR in any of the three sequences.
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Respiratory monitoring is a previously described technique [10, 23, 24] used in an attempt to prospectively avoid motion artifacts by use of respiratory signals to control image acquisition. Various techniques have been used to monitor respiration, including registration with bellows systems in combination with a strain gauge, application of elastic breathing belts, temperature monitoring with a face mask, and navigator echoes. These free-breathing techniques of respiratory monitoring allow extension of the acquisition time and potentiate an increase in the crucial parameters, which can lead to sharper anatomic details, equal or less phase ghosting, and improvement in lesion-liver contrast [10]. Use of a larger matrix size and thin sections in free-breathing techniques with respiratory monitoring can enhance the detectability of small-diameter hepatic lesions [11, 12].
The navigator-triggered PACE technique is a new method of respiratory monitoring that does not require additional hardware. The examination is not interrupted owing to dislocation of the monitoring device and is free of susceptibility to artifacts due to additional hardware [15]. Monitoring of respiratory motion is done with navigator echoes that repeatedly acquire MR signals from the right diaphragmatic dome as it moves during respiration. The respiratory trace sampled with the navigator portion of the sequence is used to synchronize data acquisition according to the patient's respiratory cycle. As soon as the series of detected diaphragmatic positions fulfills the trigger condition during the quiet phase near end expiration, the sequences stop repeating, and the navigator executes the anatomic imaging sequences and acquires a predefined number of slices.
The results of our study show that PACE TSE is superior to respiration-triggered TSE for most qualitative evaluations. The PACE TSE sequence was superior to the respiration-triggered TSE sequence in both lesion detection and characterization. Our findings suggest that the PACE technique enables more accurate positioning of image stacks because a spatial profile of the right diaphragm is displayed for changing the vertical dimension of the chest cavity, as in an actual respiratory waveform. In the respiration-triggering method, however, the signal is processed to produce a linear relation between signal amplitude and circumferential changes, that is, anterior and posterior movement, of the body wall. Therefore, use of the PACE TSE sequence reduced respiratory artifacts and improved detection and the ability to make a differential diagnosis of intrahepatic lesions. Because the respiratory cycle is displayed during acquisition, the technician can identify incoherent respiration early and has clear feedback on whether the patient is following respiratory instructions. We used an echo-train length of 13 for PACE TSE. As Low et al. [25] reported, the use of this echo-train length may decrease blurring compared with the echo-train length of 17 used for respiration-triggered TSE, and better diagnostic performance may be achieved. In addition, the PACE TSE sequence used in our study yielded a time saving of nearly 50% compared with the duration of respiration-triggered TSE.
The results of our qualitative analysis regarding lesion detection and characterization with the PACE TSE and respiration-triggered TSE sequences were superior to those with PACE HASTE. In PACE HASTE, as in previously documented single-shot TSE sequences, lesions of intermediate T2-weighted signal intensity in which there are few protons in macromolecules and their associated bound water can be obscured [21, 22] and image quality degraded. In addition, in our study the PACE HASTE sequence was performed with a small matrix size compared with those of the PACE TSE and respiration-triggered TSE sequences.
Our study also showed that the PACE HASTE sequence is superior to PACE TSE and respiration-triggered TSE for quantitative evaluation, including measurement of SNR of the liver and lesion-to-liver CNR. These results may be attributed to the decrease in image noise related to the low amount of motion artifact and to the wide receiver bandwidth of 475 Hz/pixel in the PACE HASTE sequence, as opposed to 260 Hz in PACE TSE and 210 Hz in respiration-triggered TSE. The mean liver SNR and lesion-to-liver CNR were lowest in the PACE TSE sequence. However, the mean lesion-to-liver CNR of solid malignant tumors on PACE TSE images was equal to or slightly lower than that on images obtained with the other sequences. The mean lesion-to-liver CNR of benign nonsolid lesions was distinctly lower. We believe the short echotrain length of the PACE TSE sequence may cause a smaller magnetization transfer effect, which may explain the increase in mean lesion-to-liver CNR of solid lesions [21, 22] relative to that of nonsolid liver lesions.
There are advantages to the use of a fat-suppression technique in liver imaging. Fat suppression can increase the lesion-to-liver CNR because normal liver usually contains fat. Fat suppression also decreases ghosting artifacts [26, 27], which are caused by the high signal intensity from fat [28] and the near-field effect. However, fat saturation was not performed in the three free-breathing techniques in our study. The reasons were the need for increased imaging time, unsatisfactory image quality due to incomplete suppression of fat in areas close to the body array coil [29], obscuring of hepatocellular carcinoma with fatty metamorphosis [30], and decreased definition of the margins of extrahepatic organs.
We recognize that our study had limitations. First, our reference standard was suboptimal for lesion detection and characterization. However, a more rigorous standard, such as pathologic confirmation, would have been impossible for all patients, especially those with benign lesions. Second, recall bias was unavoidable in cases with a distinct appearance. We tried to minimize recall bias by allowing a 4-week interval between reviewing sessions. Third, the PACE HASTE images were acquired with a matrix setting of 256, whereas the PACE TSE and respiration-triggered TSE images had a matrix setting of 384. The different settings for this examination parameter were chosen because increasing the matrix size in the PACE HASTE sequence decreases image quality and lesion conspicuity owing to an increase in echo-train length. Therefore, selection of different values may be justified, although a comparison with similar values would have been more appropriate. A fourth limitation was that our study population was relatively small. Definite statistical differences might have been shown in the qualitative analysis of the PACE TSE and respiration-triggered TSE sequences. We believe large prospective studies are needed to support the utility of PACE TSE in T2-weighted imaging of focal liver lesions.
In our study the PACE TSE sequence had better diagnostic performance for lesion detection and characterization than did the other free-breathing techniques. The PACE HASTE sequence, however, had the best mean liver SNR and lesion-to-liver CNR. The navigator-triggered PACE technique is a valid method of T2-weighted imaging of focal liver lesions and may replace conventional respiration-triggering techniques.
Acknowledgments
We thank Tae Kyoung Kim, Department of Medical Imaging, University Health
Network, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, for reviewing the
manuscript and for providing useful suggestions. We thank Bonnie Hami for
editorial assistance in preparing the manuscript. We also extend our
appreciation to Chang Gil Hyun and Jang Sik Oh for contributions to the
study.
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