Assessment of 2D conventional and synthetic MRI in multiple sclerosis

Purpose: To qualitatively and quantitatively compare synthetic and conventional MRI sequences acquired on a 1.5-T system for patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). Methods: Prospective study that involved twenty-seven consecutive relapsing–remitting MS patients scanned on a 1.5-T MRI scanner. The MR...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Aymerich Martínez, Francisco Javier|||0000-0002-6129-9208, Auger, Cristina, Alonso, Juli, Barros, Andrea, Clarke, Margareta, Mora, Juan, Arrambide, Georgina, Corral, Juan Francisco, Andrino, Ana, Sastre Garriga, Jaume, Rovira, Alex
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2022
País:España
Institución:Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
Repositorio:UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:upcommons.upc.edu:2117/379153
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2117/379153
https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00234-022-02973-2
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Multiple sclerosis
Diagnostic imaging
Magnetic resonance imaging
Synthetic MRI
Brain
Esclerosi múltiple
Imatgeria per al diagnòstic
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Enginyeria biomèdica::Aparells mèdics
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Ciències de la salut::Medicina::Diagnòstic per la imatge
Descripción
Sumario:Purpose: To qualitatively and quantitatively compare synthetic and conventional MRI sequences acquired on a 1.5-T system for patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). Methods: Prospective study that involved twenty-seven consecutive relapsing–remitting MS patients scanned on a 1.5-T MRI scanner. The MRI protocol included 2D transverse conventional spin-echo sequences: proton density-weighted (PD), T2-weighted, T2-FLAIR, and T1-weighted. Synthetic images were generated using 2D transverse QRAPMASTER and SyMRI software with the same voxel size, repetition, echo, and inversion times as the conventional sequences. Four raters performed a crosstab qualitative analysis that involved evaluating global image quality, contrast, flow artefacts, and confidence in lesion assessment introducing the concepts of predominance, agreement, and disagreement. A quantitative analysis was also performed and included evaluating the number of lesions (periventricular, juxtacortical, brainstem, and cerebellum) and the contrast-to-noise ratio between regions (CSF, white matter, grey matter, lesions). Results: The global image quality assessment showed predominance for better scores for conventional sequences over syn- thetic sequences, whereas contrast, confidence in lesion assessment, and flow artefacts showed predominance for agreement between sequences. There was predominance for disagreement between all pairs of raters in most of the evaluated qualitative parameters. Synthetic PD and T2-FLAIR images showed higher contrast-to-noise ratios than the corresponding conventional images for most comparison between regions. There were no significant differences in the number of lesions detected for most of the study regions between conventional and synthetic images. Conclusion: Synthetic MRI can be potentially used as an alternative to conventional brain MRI sequences in the assessment of MS.