Novel Dynamic Liver Imaging Method with Flexible Temporal and Spatial Resolution

描述(申请人提供)：肝癌对公众健康造成越来越大的负担。目前，3D多期增强磁共振检查被用来分离任何病变的动脉和静脉供血，以确定其是否为恶性。它在很大程度上依赖于患者维持屏气的能力，但在相当一部分患者中，这种能力受到了损害，导致图像质量急剧下降。它还依赖于操作员准确的推注时机，这样第一个所谓的肝动脉相就可以在右动脉增强峰值获得。团注时间误差导致对增强模式的不佳观察，对准确诊断肝脏疾病的能力产生负面影响。这项研究的长期目标是提高肝脏磁共振成像的稳健性和准确性，以检测肝细胞癌和其他恶性肿瘤。作为这一目标的一部分，这项研究的目标是开发一种健壮的图像采集和可视化技术。这项研究的假设是，这项技术消除了这些要求，并以最佳方式将所有可用的动态信息呈现给读者。提出这项研究的基本原理是，稳健和准确的动态成像方法能够快速提取所有必要的对比度吸收和冲洗信息，以准确诊断肝脏病变。为了验证这一假设，我们追求以下两个具体目标：1)开发具有高时间和空间分辨率的三维时间分辨对比增强自由呼吸成像序列，以及交互的四维可视化和后处理引擎；2)在患者研究中评估所开发的自由呼吸肝脏MRI序列的诊断性能。这项研究的预期结果是一种互动的肝脏动态磁共振成像方法，将显着改善肝脏病变的检测和表征方式。这种技术可能会产生积极的影响，因为它有望提高肝脏MRI的敏感度和特异度，减少对肝脏活检的需要，减少对患者合作和操作技能的依赖。。 公共卫生相关性：拟议中的研究与公共卫生相关，因为如果成功完成，它有望提高肝脏MRI的敏感性和特异性。它将减少对肝脏活检的需要，并减少对患者合作和操作技能的依赖。这可能会在肝细胞癌的分期和肝移植的评分分配方面带来显着的改善。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Liver cancer presents an increasing burden on public health. Currently, a 3D multi-phase contrast-enhanced MR exam is used to separate the arterial from the venous blood supply to any lesion to determine whether it is malignant or not. It relies heavily on the ability of the patient to sustain a breath-hold, but in a considerable subset of patients, this ability is compromised, leading to a sharp decrease in image quality. It also relies on accurate bolus timing by the operator, such that the first so-called hepatic arterial phase is acquired at the right peak arterial enhancement. Bolus timing errors lead to a suboptimal view of the enhancement pattern, negatively affecting the ability to accurately diagnose liver disease. The long-term goal of this research is to improve the robustness and accuracy of MR imaging of the liver for the detection of hepatocellular carcinoma and other malignancies. The objective of this research, as part of that goal, is to develop a robust image acquisition and visualization technology. The hypothesis in this research is that this technology eliminates these requirements and optimally presents all available dynamic information to the reader. The rationale for the proposed research is that a robust and accurate dynamic imaging method enables the fast extraction of all necessary contrast uptake and washout information for the accurate diagnosis of liver lesions. To test the hypothesis, the following two specific aims are pursued: 1) develop a three-dimensional time-resolved contrast-enhanced free-breathing imaging sequence with high temporal and spatial resolution together with an interactive four-dimensional visualization and post-processing engine, and 2) evaluate the diagnostic performance of the developed free-breathing liver MRI sequence in a patient study. The expected outcome of this research is an interactive dynamic MR imaging method of the liver that will significantly improve the way liver lesions are detected and characterized. Such a technique is likely to have a positive impact, since it expected to increase the sensitivity and specificity of liver MRI and to reduce the need for liver biopsy and the reliance on patient cooperation and operator skill. . PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The proposed research is relevant to public health because, if completed successfully, it is expected to increase the sensitivity and specificity of liver MRI. It will reduce the need for liver biopsy and the reliance on patient cooperation and operator skill. It is likely to lead to significant improvements in the staging of hepatocellular carcinomas and in the assignment of ranking scores for liver transplantation.