Confounder-corrected T1 mapping in the liver through simultaneous estimation of T1, PDFF, R2*, and B1+ in a single breath-hold acquisition

Abstract

Purpose: Quantitative volumetric T1 mapping in the liver has the potential to aid in the detection, diagnosis, and quantification of liver fibrosis, inflammation, and spatially resolved liver function. However, accurate measurement of hepatic T1 is confounded by the presence of fat and inhomogeneous (Formula presented.) excitation. Furthermore, scan time constraints related to respiratory motion require tradeoffs of reduced volumetric coverage and/or increased acquisition time. This work presents a novel 3D acquisition and estimation method for confounder-corrected T1 measurement over the entire liver within a single breath-hold through simultaneous estimation of T1, fat and (Formula presented.). Theory and Methods: The proposed method combines chemical shift encoded MRI and variable flip angle MRI with a (Formula presented.) mapping technique to enable confounder-corrected T1 mapping. The method was evaluated theoretically and demonstrated in both phantom and in vivo acquisitions at 1.5 and 3.0T. At 1.5T, the method was evaluated both pre- and post- contrast enhancement in healthy volunteers. Results: The proposed method demonstrated excellent linear agreement with reference inversion-recovery spin-echo based T1 in phantom acquisitions at both 1.5 and 3.0T, with minimal bias (5.2 and 45 ms, respectively) over T1 ranging from 200–1200 ms. In vivo results were in general agreement with reference saturation-recovery based 2D T1 maps (SMART1Map, GE Healthcare). Conclusion: The proposed 3D T1 mapping method accounts for fat and (Formula presented.) confounders through simultaneous estimation of T1, (Formula presented.), PDFF and (Formula presented.). It demonstrates strong linear agreement with reference T1 measurements, with low bias and high precision, and can achieve full liver coverage in a single breath-hold.