Camera-based respiratory triggering improves the image quality of 3D magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography

• Published in: European journal of radiology 2019-11, Vol.120, p.108675-108675, Article 108675
• Main Authors: Harder, Felix, Lohöfer, Fabian K., Kaissis, Georgios A., Zoellner, Christoph, Kamal, Omar, Katemann, Christoph, Hock, Andreas, Senegas, Julien, Peeters, Johannes M., Rummeny, Ernst J., Karampinos, Dimitrios, Braren, Rickmer F.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Biliary tract; Cholangiopancreatography, Magnetic Resonance - methods; Diagnostic techniques and procedures; Female; Humans; Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted - methods; Imaging, Three-Dimensional - methods; Magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography; Magnetic resonance imaging; Male; Middle Aged; Motion; Pancreatic Diseases - diagnostic imaging; Pancreatic ducts; Reproducibility of Results; Respiration; Retrospective Studies; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0720-048X; 1872-7727
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ejrad.2019.108675

•CRT acquisition leads to improved image quality in respiratory-triggered 3D-MRCP.•CRT in combination with compressed sensing allows fast and robust 3D-MRCP acquisition.•CRT provides improved visualization of small ductal structures. To evaluate the performance of a novel camera-based breathing navigation system in respiratory-triggered (CRT) 3D-magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) at 3T MRI. Two 3D-MRCP data sets were acquired subsequently within one imaging session with traditional respiratory belt- (BRT) or camera- (CRT) based triggering in 28 patients. Overall image quality, blurring, motion artifacts and discernibility of the pancreaticobiliary tree (PBT) structures were scored on a 4-point scale retrospectively by 2 radiologists. The contrast ratio between the common bile duct and its adjacent tissue was measured by region-of-interest (ROI) analysis. The signal intensity increase at the duct boundaries was quantified by line profiles to objectify blurring and motion artifacts. The extracted respiratory signal curves were analyzed for signal quality and trigger timing. Total scan time was 72 s for both acquisitions. CRT yielded significantly better ratings in image quality, background suppression, blurring and discernibility of PBT structures compared to BRT. Contrast ratios were significantly higher in CRT (0.94 ± 0.03) than in BRT (0.93 ± 0.03) exams; paired t test P = 0.0017. Line profile slopes through the common bile duct revealed significantly higher values in CRT (42.23 ± 8.74% of maximum intensity/mm) compared to BRT (36.06 ± 8.96% of maximum intensity/mm; paired t test P