Visualizing the Habenula Using 3T High-Resolution MP2RAGE and QSM: A Preliminary Study

BingYang Bian; Lin Hou; YaTing Chai; YueLuan Jiang; XingChen Pan; Yang Sun; HongChao Wang; DongDong Qiu; ZeChen Yu; Hua Zhao; HuiMao Zhang; FanYang Meng; Lei Zhang

doi:10.3174/ajnr.A8156

Visualizing the Habenula Using 3T High-Resolution MP2RAGE and QSM: A Preliminary Study

AJNR Am J Neuroradiol. 2024 Apr 8;45(4):504-510. doi: 10.3174/ajnr.A8156.

Authors

BingYang Bian¹, Lin Hou¹, YaTing Chai¹, YueLuan Jiang², XingChen Pan¹, Yang Sun¹, HongChao Wang¹, DongDong Qiu¹, ZeChen Yu³, Hua Zhao⁴, HuiMao Zhang¹, FanYang Meng¹, Lei Zhang⁵

Affiliations

¹ From the Department of Radiology (B.B., L.H., Y.C., X.P., Y.S., H.W., D.Q., H. Zhang, F.M., L.Z.), Jilin Provincial Key Laboratory of Medical Imaging and Big Data, Radiology and Technology Innovation Center of Jilin Province, Jilin Provincial International Joint Research Center of Medical Artificial Intelligence, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin, China.
² MR Scientific Marketing, Diagnostic Imaging (Y.J.), Siemens Healthineers Ltd, Beijing, China.
³ Siemens Healthineers Digital Technology (Shanghai) Co Ltd (Z.Y.), Shanghai, China.
⁴ Department of Physiology (H. Zhao), College of Basic Medical Sciences, Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin, China.
⁵ From the Department of Radiology (B.B., L.H., Y.C., X.P., Y.S., H.W., D.Q., H. Zhang, F.M., L.Z.), Jilin Provincial Key Laboratory of Medical Imaging and Big Data, Radiology and Technology Innovation Center of Jilin Province, Jilin Provincial International Joint Research Center of Medical Artificial Intelligence, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin, China zlei99@jlu.edu.cn.

PMID: 38453416
DOI: 10.3174/ajnr.A8156

Abstract

Background and purpose: The habenula is a key node in the regulation of emotion-related behavior. Accurate visualization of the habenula and its reliable quantitative analysis is vital for the assessment of psychiatric disorders. To obtain high-contrast habenula images and allow them to be compatible with clinical applications, this preliminary study compared 3T MP2RAGE and quantitative susceptibility mapping with MPRAGE by evaluating the habenula segmentation performance.

Materials and methods: Ten healthy volunteers were scanned twice with 3T MPRAGE and MP2RAGE and once with quantitative susceptibility mapping. Image quality and visibility of habenula anatomic features were analyzed by 3 radiologists using a 5-point scale. Contrast assessments of the habenula and thalamus were also performed. The reproducibility of the habenula volume from MPRAGE and MP2RAGE was evaluated by manual segmentation and the Multiple Automatically Generated Template brain segmentation algorithm (MAGeTbrain). T1 values and susceptibility were measured in the whole habenula and habenula geometric subregion using MP2RAGE T1-mapping and quantitative susceptibility mapping.

Results: The 3T MP2RAGE and quantitative susceptibility mapping demonstrated clear boundaries and anatomic features of the habenula compared with MPRAGE, with a higher SNR and contrast-to-noise ratio (all P < .05). Additionally, 3T MP2RAGE provided reliable habenula manual and MAGeTbrain segmentation volume estimates with greater reproducibility. T1-mapping derived from MP2RAGE was highly reliable, and susceptibility contrast was highly nonuniform within the habenula.

Conclusions: We identified an optimized sequence combination (3T MP2RAGE combined with quantitative susceptibility mapping) that may be useful for enhancing habenula visualization and yielding more reliable quantitative data.

MeSH terms

Algorithms
Brain
Habenula* / diagnostic imaging
Healthy Volunteers
Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging / methods
Reproducibility of Results