Quantitative effects of acquisition duration and temporal resolution on the measurement accuracy of prostate dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI data: a phantom study

Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of the temporal resolution (T_res) and acquisition duration (AD) on the measurement accuracy of contrast concentration–time curves (CTCs), and derived phenomenological and pharmacokinetic parameter values, in a dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI experiment using a novel phantom test device. Materials and methods: ‘Ground truth’ CTCs were established using a highly precise optical imaging system. These precisely known CTCs were produced in an anthropomorphic environment, which mimicked the male pelvic region, and presented to the MRI scanner for measurement. The T_res was varied in the range [2–24.4 s] and the AD in the range [30–600 s], and the effects on the measurement accuracy were quantified. Results: For wash-in parameter measurements, large underestimation errors (up to 40%) were found using T_res values ≥16.3 s; however, the measured wash-out rate did not vary greatly across all T_res values tested. Errors in derived K^trans and v_e values were below 14 and 12% for acquisitions with {T_res ≤ 8.1 s, AD ≥ 360 s} and {T_res ≤ 16.3 s, AD ≥ 360 s}, respectively, but increased dramatically outside these ranges. Conclusions: Errors in measured wash-in, wash-out, K^trans, and v_e parameters were minimised using T_res ≤ 8.1 s and AD ≥ 360 s, with large errors recorded outside of this range.