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Improved Accuracy of Apparent Diffusion Coefficient (ADC) Quantification: Evaluation in Prostate Diffusion Imaging without Using Endorectal Coils
Xiaodong Zhong1,2, Marcel D. Nickel3, Stephan A.R. Kannengiesser3, Alto Stemmer3, Brian M. Dale4, Berthold Kiefer3, and Mustafa R. Bashir5

1MR R&D Collaborations, Siemens Healthcare, Atlanta, GA, United States, 2Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, United States, 3MR Application Predevelopment, Siemens Healthcare, Erlangen, Germany, 4MR R&D Collaborations, Siemens Healthcare, Cary, NC, United States, 5Center for Advanced Magnetic Resonance Development, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, United States

Synopsis

In prostate DWI, low SNR often causes inaccuracy in ADC quantification if not compensated, especially when using surface array coils. Endorectal coils can be used, although associated with substantial setup time, patient discomfort and complications. In this work, a noise bias correction framework was developed and validated in a Monte Carlo simulation, a diffusion phantom, and 14 prostate imaging subjects. Using data acquired with an endorectal coil as a reference, this framework showed improved accuracy of ADC quantification in the prostate when only non-endorectal coils were used. This framework may allow quantitative prostate diffusion imaging without requiring endorectal coils.

INTRODUCTION

High b-value images are an important component of prostate DWI, but often suffer from low SNR, especially when only external body array coils (BAC, including spine coil elements) are utilized. Low SNR in DWI data sets can cause inaccurate ADC calculations if not compensated.1-4 Endorectal coils (ERC) may be used to improve SNR,5-8 but may lead to substantial setup time, patient discomfort9,10 and complications.10,11

We hypothesized that ADC calculations using a BAC and typical prostate DWI protocols are compromised by noise bias, and aimed to develop a framework to overcome this problem.

THEORY

The noise in the real/imaginary parts and magnitude of complex MRI data conforms to Gaussian and Rician distributions, respectively.11-13 A maximum probability (MP) parameter was identified by finding the noisy magnitude value corresponding to the maximum of the probability density function.3,15,16 The noise standard deviation (SD) map was calculated using a pseudo-replica approach.17,18 With these prerequisites, using a normalization process and a mapping modelling by Chebychev approximation, noise-biased magnitude values were converted to noise-unbiased magnitude values. Methods such as log-linear (LL) and least-squares (LS) fitting can be subsequently applied to obtain noise-unbiased ADC values.

METHOD

Monte Carlo Simulation

A Monte Carlo simulation was implemented in Matlab (Mathworks, Natick, MA). Ground-truth values were set for S0, b-values and ADC. Gaussian noise was generated and added to complex data’s real/imaginary parts. Four fitting methods were performed, including (1) LL on averaged b-value images (LL AveB), (2) LS on averaged b-value images (LS AveB), (3) LS on non-averaged b-value images (LS Non-AveB) and (4) LS on non-averaged b-value images with MP noise correction (LS MP-Cor Non-AveB). Error%-SNR curves and error% maps were generated.

Diffusion Phantom

A SE-EPI diffusion sequence was modified to implement the proposed framework. A diffusion phantom (High Precision Devices, Boulder, CO) at 0°C was scanned at 3T (MAGNETOM Skyra, Siemens, Erlangen, Germany) using an 18-channel body array and a 32-channel spine array. Parameters: TR=3000ms, TE=400ms, pixel-size=2.4×2.4mm2, slice-thickness=1mm, GRAPPA×2. Four b-value sets included (1) b=0,1000s/mm2, (2) b=0,2000 s/mm2, (3) b=0,3000s/mm2, and (4) b=0,50,400,800,1200,1600,2000,3000,4000s/mm2, with 3 directions and 32 repetitions.

In Vivo Validation and Statistical Analysis

Under an IRB-approved prospective study with written informed consent, 14 subjects undergoing clinical prostate MRI were scanned. Using a single-channel ERC (Medrad eCoil, Bayer, Whippany, NJ) combined with BAC, the original SE-EPI diffusion sequence was executed to perform LL AveB as a reference. Parameters: TR=5500ms, TE=68ms, pixel-size=1.25×1.25mm2, slice-thickness=3mm, GRAPPA×2, b-value=50,800s/mm2 (2,4 repetitions), directions =3, acquisition time =105s. In a separate acquisition without the ERC, the modified sequence was applied using the BAC: TR=5700ms, TE=67ms, pixel-size=1.93×1.93mm2, slice-thickness=3mm, GRAPPA×2, b-value=50,400,800s/mm2 (2,4,8 repetitions), directions=4, acquisition time=336s. In-plane motion correction (MoCo) was implemented.19 Four methods were performed: (1) LL AveB, (2) LL AveB+MoCo, (3) LS MP-Cor Non-AveB, and (4) LS MP-Cor Non-AveB+MoCo. Peripheral and central regions were segmented on ERC ADC maps, and identified on non-ERC maps. Statistical analyses were performed using R (R Core Team, Vienna, Austria). Linear regression, Bland-Altman analysis and ANOVA (practical equivalence region:±0.05×10-3mm2/s) were performed.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Error%-SNR curves for ADC=0.8,1.5 and 3.0×10-3mm2/s show that LS MP-Cor Non-AveB is most accurate (Figure 1). Error% maps as a function of SNR and ADC show the largest “Green Zone” (small errors) for LS MP-Cor Non-AveB (Figure 2).

Both LL AveB and LS MP-Cor Non-AveB exhibit similar accuracy of ADC measurements when ADC values are below 1.0×10-3mm2/s (Figure 3). For high b-values, LL AveB shows underestimated ADC results for the vials with ADC values above 1.0×10-3mm2/s (Figure 3A). In contrast, LS MP-Cor Non-AveB gives consistent results for all the four b-value sets (Figure 3B).

Example acquired images and results from non-ERC and ERC acquisitions are shown (Figure 4). The b0 SNR estimates for the ERC data are 49.4±11.6 and 24.6±6.1 for peripheral and central regions, respectively, in contrast to 13.0±3.5 and 9.6±2.2 for the non-ERC data. The correlations between the ERC reference and the non-ERC results were well improved with LS MP-Cor Non-AveB and less variable with MoCo (Figure 5A-D). ANOVA showed the non-ERC results with LS MP-Cor Non-AveB were practically equivalent to the ERC results, while those without LS MP-Cor Non-AveB were not equivalent (p<0.01), consistent with Bland-Altman plots (Figure 5E-H).

CONCLUSION

In this work, a noise bias correction framework was developed and validated in a Monte Carlo simulation, a diffusion phantom, and 14 prostate imaging subjects. Using data acquired with the endorectal coil as a reference, this framework showed improved accuracy of ADC quantification in prostate when only non-endorectal coils were used. This framework may allow quantitative prostate diffusion imaging without the need to use endorectal coils.

Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge Vibhas Deshpande, PhD for helpful handling of the diffusion phantom, and Elisabeth Weiland, PhD for valuable discussion of the prostate DWI protocols.

References

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Figures

Figure 1 Error%-SNR curves for three typical ADC values using four different ADC fitting methods.

Figure 2 Mean error% as a function of ADC and SNR using four different ADC fitting methods.

Figure 3 The ADC results of the 13 vials in the diffusion phantom measured with both the LL AveB and the LS MP-Cor Non-AveB for 4 different b-value sets: (1) b = 0 and 1000 s/mm2, (2) b = 0 and 2000 s/mm2, (3) b = 0 and 3000 s/mm2, and (4) b = 0, 50, 400, 800, 1200, 1600, 2000, 3000 and 4000 s/mm2. The 13 vials are marked in the bottom right corner.

Figure 4 Example images and ADC maps obtained using the non-ERC (A-E,J) and using the ERC (F-I). The green and yellow ROIs represent the central and peripheral regions of the prostate, respectively (I, J).

Figure 5 Linear regression (A-D) and Bland-Altman plots (E-H) of in vivo ADC values of prostate peripheral and central regions on two adjacent slices between each of the four different ADC calculation methods using the BAC and the reference standard LL AveB method using the ERC, in 14 subjects.

Proc. Intl. Soc. Mag. Reson. Med. 25 (2017)
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