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A short-TR single-echo spin-echo breath-hold method for assessing liver T2

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Abstract

Objective

Conventional single-echo spin-echo T2 map** used for liver iron quantification is too long for breath-holding. This study investigated a short TR (~100 ms) single-echo spin-echo T2 map** technique wherein each image (corresponding to a single TE) could be acquired in ~17 s–short enough for a breath-hold. TE images were combined for T2 fitting. To avoid T1 bias, each TE acquisition incremented TR to maintain a constant TR-TE.

Materials and methods

Experiments at 1.5T validated the technique’s accuracy in phantoms, 9 healthy volunteers, and 5 iron overload patients. In phantoms and healthy volunteers, the technique was compared to the conventional approach of constant TR for all TEs. Iron overload results were compared to FerriScan.

Results

In phantoms, the constant TR-TE technique provided unbiased estimates of T2, while the conventional constant TR approach underestimated it. In healthy volunteers, there was no significant discrepancy at the 95% confidence level between constant TR-TE and reference T2 values, whereas there was for constant TR scans. In iron overload patients, there was a high correlation between constant TR-TE and FerriScan T2 values (r2 = 0.95), with a discrepancy of 0.6+/− 1.4 ms.

Discussion

The short-TR single-echo breath-hold spin-echo technique provided unbiased estimates of T2 in phantoms and livers.

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Data availability

Due to privacy concerns, data is not publicly available.

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Funding

Funding for this study was generously provided by GE Healthcare.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Joint Department of Medical Imaging, University Health Network, Mount Sinai Hospital, and Women’s College Hospital, University of Toronto, 585 University Avenue, Room NUW-1-141D, Toronto, ON, M5G 2N2, Canada

    Marshall S. Sussman & Kartik S. Jhaveri

Authors
  1. Marshall S. Sussman
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  2. Kartik S. Jhaveri
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Contributions

S: Study conception and design, Acquisition of data, Analysis and interpretation of data, Drafting of manuscript, Critical revision. J: Study conception and design, Acquisition of data, Analysis and interpretation of data, Drafting of manuscript, Critical revision.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Marshall S. Sussman.

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Conflict of interest

This research was generously supported by GE Healthcare.

Ethical approval

This prospective study was performed under Research Ethics Board approval at our institution.

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Written informed consent was obtained from all participants.

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Sussman, M.S., Jhaveri, K.S. A short-TR single-echo spin-echo breath-hold method for assessing liver T2. Magn Reson Mater Phy 37, 101–113 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10334-023-01132-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10334-023-01132-9

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