Free-breathing dynamic T1WI using compressed sensing-golden angle radial sparse parallel imaging for liver MRI in patients with limited breath-holding capability

Purpose: Evaluating the performance of free-breathing dynamic T1-weighted imaging (T1WI) using compressed sensing golden-angle radial sparse parallel imaging (CS-GRASP) in non-cooperative patients compared with a general group. Method: This retrospective study included patients who underwent gadoxetic acid-enhanced liver MRI using CS-GRASP at 3 T between March 2018 and October 2019. Patients were divided chronologically, into one of two groups: Group 1, who underwent MRI during the sequence implementation period regardless of breath-hold capability; and Group 2, who underwent MRI from June 2018 due to limited breath-hold capability. Three radiologists evaluated motion and streak artifacts as well as overall image quality on a four-point scale at the precontrast phase, late arterial phase (LAP) and portal venous phase (PVP). Intra-individual comparisons were made between sequences in each group. Results: We identified 102 patients, who were divided into either Group 1 (n = 41) or 2 (n = 61). For the LAP, the former group had higher image quality (3.22 +/- 0.65 vs. 2.95 +/- 0.61, P < 0.001) and less streak artifact (2.96 +/- 0.56 vs. 2.74 +/- 0.57, P = 0.001) than the latter. However, there was no significant difference between the two groups regarding either the proportion of patients with acceptable motion artifact, at 92.7% (38/41) for Group 1 vs. 96.7% (59/61) for Group 2, or that of patients with acceptable image quality at 80.5% (33/41) for Group 1 vs. 65.6% (40/61) for Group 2 (P > 0.05). In intra-individual comparisons, portal phase showed the highest image quality than the others in both groups (P < 0.001). Conclusions: Acceptable image quality for the LAP in non-cooperative patients was provided with a success rate of over 50% via free-breathing T1WI using CS-GRASP.

Automated summary

This study evaluated the performance of free-breathing T1WI using CS-GRASP in non-cooperative patients. The results showed that free-breathing T1WI with CS-GRASP provided higher image quality and fewer streak artifacts in the LAP phase. However, there was no significant difference between the two groups regarding motion artifacts and image quality. In addition, the portal phase had the best image quality compared to other phases.