Reproducibility of quantitative ADC, T1, and T2 measurement on the cerebral cortex: Utility of whole brain echo-planar DWI with compressed SENSE (EPICS-DWI): A pilot study

Koji Yamashita; Masami Yoneyama; Kazufumi Kikuchi; Tatsuhiro Wada; Hiroo Murazaki; Hiroaki Watanuki; Ryoji Mikayama; Kousei Ishigami; Osamu Togao

doi:10.1016/j.ejro.2023.100516

Reproducibility of quantitative ADC, T1, and T2 measurement on the cerebral cortex: Utility of whole brain echo-planar DWI with compressed SENSE (EPICS-DWI): A pilot study

Eur J Radiol Open. 2023 Aug 11:11:100516. doi: 10.1016/j.ejro.2023.100516. eCollection 2023 Dec.

Authors

Koji Yamashita¹, Masami Yoneyama², Kazufumi Kikuchi³, Tatsuhiro Wada⁴, Hiroo Murazaki⁴, Hiroaki Watanuki⁴, Ryoji Mikayama⁴, Kousei Ishigami³, Osamu Togao⁵

Affiliations

¹ Departments of Radiology Informatics and Network, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, 3-1-1, Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8582, Japan.
² Philips Japan, 13-37, Kohnan 2-chome, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108-8507, Japan.
³ Departments of Clinical Radiology, and Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, 3-1-1, Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8582, Japan.
⁴ Division of Radiology, Department of Medical Technology, Kyushu University Hospital, Japan.
⁵ Departments of Molecular Imaging and Diagnosis, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, 3-1-1, Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8582, Japan.

Abstract

Purpose: To assess the reproducibility of ADC, T1, T2, and proton density (PD) measurements on the cortex across the entire brain using high-resolution pseudo-3D diffusion-weighted imaging using echo-planar imaging with compressed SENSE (EPICS-DWI) and 3D quantification with an interleaved Look-Locker acquisition sequence with T2 preparation pulse (3D-QALAS) in normal healthy adults.

Methods: Twelve healthy participants (median age, 33 years; range, 28-51 years) were recruited to evaluate the reproducibility of whole-brain EPICS-DWI and synthetic MRI. EPICS-DWI utilizes a compressed SENSE reconstruction framework while maintaining the EPI sampling pattern. The 3D-QALAS sequence is based on multi-acquisition 3D gradient echo, with five acquisitions equally spaced in time, interleaved with a T2 preparation pulse and an inversion pulse. EPICS-DWI (b values, 0 and 1000 s/mm²) and 3D-QALAS sequence with identical voxel size on a 3.0-T MR system were performed twice (for test-retest scan). Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) for ADC, T1, T2, and PD for all parcellated volume of interest (VOI) per subject on scan-rescan tests were calculated to assess reproducibility. Bland-Altman plots were used to investigate discrepancies in ADCs, T1s, T2s, and PDs obtained from the two MR scans.

Results: The ICC of ADCs was 0.785, indicating "good" reproducibility. The ICCs of T1s, T2s, and PDs were 0.986, 0.978, and 0.968, indicating "excellent" reproducibility.

Conclusion: The combination of EPICS-DWI and 3D-QALAS sequences with identical voxel size could reproducible ADC, T1, T2, and PD measurements for the cortex across the entire brain in healthy adults.

Keywords: Brain; Cerebral cortex; Diffusion magnetic resonance imaging; Magnetic resonance imaging; Test retest reliability.