Improving the pharmacokinetic parameter measurement in dynamic contrast‐enhanced MRI by use of the arterial input function: Theory and clinical application

Abstract

One of the most powerful features of the dynamic contrastenhanced (DCE) MRI technique is its capability to quantitatively measure the physiological or pathophysiological environments assessed by the passage of contrast agent by means of modelbased pharmacokinetic analysis. The widely used two-compartment pharmacokinetic model developed by Brix and colleges fits tumor data well in most cases, but fails to explain the biexponential arterial input function. In this work, this problem has been attacked from a theoretical point of view, showing that this problem can be solved by adopting a more realistic model assumption when simplifying the general solutions of the two-compartment pharmacokinetic equations. Pharmacokinetic parameters derived from our model were demonstrated to have comparative tissue specificity to K trans from Larsson's model, better than those from Brix's model and the empirical area-under-the-curve (AUC). Tissue-type classifier constructed with the arterial input function-decomposed k ep -k pe pair from our model was also demonstrated to have superior performance than any other classifier based on DCE-MRI pharmacokinetic parameters or empirical AUC. The feature that this classifier has a near-zero false-negative rate makes it a highly desirable tool for clinical diagnostic and response assessment applications.

Simulating the effect of input errors on the accuracy of Tofts’ pharmacokinetic model parameters

“…A substantial effort has been made by many investigators to improve the reliability of the PMPs, and a wealth of correction algorithms is proposed to improve the AIF calculation [15][16][17][18][19], or tissue input data [20,21]. Alternative algorithms to improve the model [22] have also been proposed.…”

Dynamic Contrast-enhanced MR Imaging Measurement of Vertebral Bone Marrow Perfusion May Be Indicator of Outcome of Acute Myeloid Leukemia Patients in Remission

“…The contrast agent in the intravascular space is ignored. A represents the distribution volume (the extravascular extracellular space) of the contrast agent in the tissue, if the relaxivity, the native T1, and the dose do not vary signifi cantly (30)(31)(32). The effl ux rate constant, K ep (expressed as per minute), refl ects the contrast agent transit between the extravascular and intravascular compartments.…”

Methodological developments and clinical applications of pharmacokinetic models in contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance perfusion studies

“…Several studies have shown the variability associated to the AIF selection [80,[124][125][126][127][128]. Three different approaches are commonly taken:…”