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3D phase contrast MRI: Partial volume correction for robust blood flow quantification in small intracranial vessels
Author(s) -
Bouillot Pierre,
Delattre Bénédicte M. A.,
Brina Olivier,
Ouared Rafik,
Farhat Mohamed,
Chnafa Christophe,
Steinman David A.,
Lovblad KarlOlof,
Pereira Vitor M.,
Vargas Maria I.
Publication year - 2018
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.26637
Subject(s) - partial volume , voxel , pulsatile flow , biomedical engineering , blood flow , volume (thermodynamics) , flow (mathematics) , image resolution , contrast (vision) , hemodynamics , materials science , nuclear medicine , nuclear magnetic resonance , medicine , radiology , mathematics , computer science , physics , artificial intelligence , cardiology , geometry , quantum mechanics
Purpose Recent advances in 3D‐PCMRI (phase contrast MRI) sequences allow for measuring the complex hemodynamics in cerebral arteries. However, the small size of these vessels vs spatial resolution can lead to non‐negligible partial volume artifacts, which must be taken into account when computing blood flow rates. For this purpose, we combined the velocity information provided by 3D‐PCMRI with vessel geometry measured with 3DTOF (time of flight MRI) or 3DRA (3D rotational angiography) to correct the partial volume effects in flow rate assessments. Methods The proposed methodology was first tested in vitro on cylindrical and patient specific vessels subject to fully controlled pulsatile flows. Both 2D‐ and 3D‐PCMRI measurements using various spatial resolutions ranging from 20 to 1.3 voxels per vessel diameter were analyzed and compared with flowmeter baseline. Second, 3DTOF, 2D‐ and 3D‐PCMRI measurements were performed in vivo on 35 patients harboring internal carotid artery (ICA) aneurysms indicated for endovascular treatments requiring 3DRA imaging. Results The in vitro 2D‐ and 3D‐PCMRI mean flow rates assessed with partial volume correction showed very low sensitivity to the acquisition resolution above ≈ 2 voxels per vessel diameter while uncorrected flow rates deviated critically when decreasing the spatial resolution. 3D‐PCMRI flow rates measured in vivo in ICA agreed very well with 2D‐PCMRI data and a good flow conservation was observed at the C7 bifurcation. Globally, partial volume correction led to 10–15% lower flow rates than uncorrected values as those reported in most of the published studies on intracranial flows. Conclusion Partial volume correction may improve the accuracy of PCMRI flow rate measurements especially in small vessels such as intracranial arteries. Magn Reson Med 79:129–140, 2018. © 2017 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.