Artifact-reduced simultaneous MRI of multiple rats with liver cancer using PROPELLER

Purpose To explore simultaneous magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for multiple hepatoma-bearing rats in a single session suppressing motion- and flow-related artifacts to conduct preclinical cancer research efficiently. Materials and Methods Our institutional Animal Experimental Committee approved this study. We acquired PROPELLER (periodically rotated overlapping parallel lines with enhanced reconstruction) T-2- and diffusion-weighted images of the liver in one healthy and 11 N1-S1 hepatoma-bearing rats in three sessions using a 3-T clinical scanner and dedicated multiarray coil. We compared tumor volumes on MR images and those on specimens, evaluated apparent diffusion coefficients (ADC) of the tumor, and compared them to previously reported values. Results Each MRI session took 39-50 minutes from anesthesia induction to the end of scans for four rats (10-13 minutes per rat). PROPELLER provided artifact-reduced T-2- and diffusion-weighted images of the rat livers. Tumor volumes on MR images ranged from 0.04-1.81 cm(3) and were highly correlated with those on specimens. The ADC was 1.57 +/- 0.37 x 10(-3) mm(2)/s (average +/- SD), comparable to previously reported values. Conclusion PROPELLER allowed simultaneous acquisition of artifact-reduced T-2- and diffusion-weighted images of multiple hepatoma-bearing rats. This technique can promote high-throughput preclinical MR research for liver cancer. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2013;38:225-230. (c) 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.