Purpose

MR fingerprinting (MRF) is a MR technique that allows assessment of tissue relaxation times. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the clinical application of this technique in patients with meningioma.

Materials and methods

A whole-brain 3D isotropic 1mm³ acquisition under a 3.0T field strength was used to obtain MRF T₁ and T₂-based relaxometry values in 4:38 s. The accuracy of values was quantified by scanning a quantitative MR relaxometry phantom. In vivo evaluation was performed by applying the sequence to 20 subjects with 25 meningiomas. Regions of interest included the meningioma, caudate head, centrum semiovale, contralateral white matter and thalamus. For both phantom and subjects, mean values of both T₁ and T₂ estimates were obtained. Statistical significance of differences in mean values between the meningioma and other brain structures was tested using a Friedman’s ANOVA test.

Results

MR fingerprinting phantom data demonstrated a linear relationship between measured and reference relaxometry estimates for both T₁ (r² = 0.99) and T₂ (r² = 0.97). MRF T₁ relaxation times were longer in meningioma (mean ± SD 1429 ± 202 ms) compared to thalamus (mean ± SD 1054 ± 58 ms; p = 0.004), centrum semiovale (mean ± SD 825 ± 42 ms; p < 0.001) and contralateral white matter (mean ± SD 799 ± 40 ms; p < 0.001). MRF T₂ relaxation times were longer for meningioma (mean ± SD 69 ± 27 ms) as compared to thalamus (mean ± SD 27 ± 3 ms; p < 0.001), caudate head (mean ± SD 39 ± 5 ms; p < 0.001) and contralateral white matter (mean ± SD 35 ± 4 ms; p < 0.001)

Conclusions

Phantom measurements indicate that the proposed 3D-MRF sequence relaxometry estimations are valid and reproducible. For in vivo, entire brain coverage was obtained in clinically feasible time and allows quantitative assessment of meningioma in clinical practice.

中文翻译：

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全脑 3D MR 指纹脑成像：脑膜瘤患者的临床验证和可行性

目的

MR 指纹识别 (MRF) 是一种可以评估组织松弛时间的 MR 技术。本研究的目的是评估该技术在脑膜瘤患者中的临床应用。

材料和方法

3.0T 场强下的全脑 3D 各向同性 1mm ³采集用于在 4:38 秒内获得基于MRF T ₁和 T ₂的弛豫值。通过扫描定量 MR 弛豫模型来量化值的准确性。通过将序列应用于 20 名患有 25 个脑膜瘤的受试者进行体内评估。感兴趣的区域包括脑膜瘤、尾状头、半卵圆中心、对侧白质和丘脑。对于体模和受试者，均获得了 T ₁和 T ₂估计值的平均值。使用弗里德曼方差分析测试了脑膜瘤和其他脑结构之间平均值差异的统计显着性。

结果

MR 指纹模型数据表明，T ₁ ( r ²  = 0.99) 和 T ₂ ( r ²  = 0.97) 的测量值和参考弛豫估计值之间存在线性关系。与丘脑（平均 ± SD 1054 ± 58 ms；p  = 0.004）、半卵圆中心（平均 ± SD 825 ± 42 ms；p  < 0.001）相比，脑膜瘤的MRF T ₁弛豫时间更长（平均 ± SD 1429 ± 202 ms ）和对侧白质（平均值 ± SD 799 ± 40 毫秒；p  < 0.001）。与丘脑相比，脑膜瘤的MRF T ₂弛豫时间更长（平均值 ± SD 69 ± 27 ms）（平均值 ± SD 27 ± 3 ms；p < 0.001)、尾状头 (平均值 ± SD 39 ± 5 ms；p  < 0.001) 和对侧白质 (平均值 ± SD 35 ± 4 ms；p  < 0.001)

结论

体模测量表明所提出的 3D-MRF 序列弛豫估计是有效且可重复的。在体内，整个大脑覆盖是在临床可行的时间内获得的，并允许在临床实践中对脑膜瘤进行定量评估。