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Uncertainty in MR tracer kinetic parameters and water exchange rates estimated from T 1 ‐weighted dynamic contrast enhanced MRI
Author(s) -
Zhang Jin,
Kim Sungheon
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
magnetic resonance in medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.696
H-Index - 225
eISSN - 1522-2594
pISSN - 0740-3194
DOI - 10.1002/mrm.24927
Subject(s) - kinetic energy , tracer , chemistry , accuracy and precision , homogeneity (statistics) , contrast (vision) , nuclear magnetic resonance , nuclear medicine , analytical chemistry (journal) , mathematics , physics , statistics , chromatography , medicine , optics , quantum mechanics , nuclear physics
Purpose The aim of this study was to assess the uncertainty in estimation of MR tracer kinetic parameters and water exchange rates in T 1 ‐weighted dynamic contrast enhanced (DCE) MRI. Methods Simulated DCE‐MRI data were used to assess four kinetic models; general kinetic model with a vascular compartment (GKM2), GKM2 combined with water exchange (SSM2), adiabatic approximation of the tissue homogeneity model (ATH), and ATH combined with water exchange (ATHX). Results In GKM2 and SSM2, increase in transfer constant ( K trans ) led to underestimation of vascular volume fraction ( v b ), and increase in v b led to overestimation of K trans . Such coupling between K trans and v b was not observed in ATH and ATHX. The precision of estimated intracellular water lifetime ( τ i ) was substantially improved in both SSM2 and ATHX when K trans > 0.3 min −1 . K trans and v b from ATHX model had significantly smaller errors than those from ATH model ( P < 0.05). Conclusion The results of this study demonstrated the feasibility of measuring τ i from DCE‐MRI data albeit low precision. While the inclusion of water exchange improved the accuracy of K trans , v b , and the interstitial volume fraction estimation ( v e ), it lowered the precision of other kinetic model parameters within the conditions investigated in this study. Magn Reson Med 72:534–545, 2014. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.