Delay of aortic arterial input function time improves detection of malignant vertebral body lesions on dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI perfusion Journal Article


Authors: Camelo, F.; Peck, K. K.; Saha, A.; Arevalo-Perez, J.; Lyo, J. K.; Tisnado, J.; Lis, E.; Karimi, S.; Holodny, A. I.
Article Title: Delay of aortic arterial input function time improves detection of malignant vertebral body lesions on dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI perfusion
Abstract: Dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI (DCE) is an emerging modality in the study of vertebral body malignancies. DCE-MRI analysis relies on a pharmacokinetic model, which assumes that contrast uptake is simultaneous in the feeding of arteries and tissues of interest. While true in the highly vascularized brain, the perfusion of the spine is delayed. This delay of contrast reaching vertebral body lesions can affect DCE-MRI analyses, leading to misdiagnosis for the presence of active malignancy in the bone marrow. To overcome the limitation of delayed contrast arrival to vertebral body lesions, we shifted the arterial input function (AIF) curve over a series of phases and recalculated the plasma volume values (Vp) for each phase shift. We hypothesized that shifting the AIF tracer curve would better reflect actual contrast perfusion, thereby improving the accuracy of Vp maps in metastases. We evaluated 18 biopsy-proven vertebral body metastases in which standard DCE-MRI analysis failed to demonstrate the expected increase in Vp. We manually delayed the AIF curve for multiple phases, defined as the scan-specific phase temporal resolution, and analyzed DCE-MRI parameters with the new AIF curves. All patients were found to require at least one phase-shift delay in the calculated AIF to better visualize metastatic spinal lesions and improve quantitation of Vp. Average normalized Vp values were 1.78 ± 1.88 for zero phase shifts (P0), 4.72 ± 4.31 for one phase shift (P1), and 5.59 ± 4.41 for two phase shifts (P2). Mann–Whitney U tests obtained p-values = 0.003 between P0 and P1, and 0.0004 between P0 and P2. This study demonstrates that image processing analysis for DCE-MRI in patients with spinal metastases requires a careful review of signal intensity curve, as well as a possible adjustment of the phase of aortic AIF to increase the accuracy of Vp. © 2023 by the authors.
Keywords: dynamic contrast-enhanced mri; arterial input function; perfusion; spine metastases
Journal Title: Cancers
Volume: 15
Issue: 8
ISSN: 2072-6694
Publisher: MDPI  
Date Published: 2023-04-02
Start Page: 2353
Language: English
DOI: 10.3390/cancers15082353
PROVIDER: scopus
PMCID: PMC10136448
PUBMED: 37190282
DOI/URL:
Notes: The MSK Cancer Center Support Grant (P30 CA008748) is acknowledged in the PDF -- Corresponding author is MSK author: Kyung K. Peck -- Source: Scopus
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MSK Authors
  1. John Kyungjin Lyo
    39 Lyo
  2. Eric Lis
    138 Lis
  3. Sasan Karimi
    115 Karimi
  4. Kyung Peck
    117 Peck
  5. Andrei Holodny
    207 Holodny
  6. Jamie Tisnado
    16 Tisnado
  7. Atin   Saha
    11 Saha
  8. Felipe Souza Camelo
    1 Camelo