The Value of PETRA in Pulmonary Nodules of <3 cm Among Patients With Lung Cancer

Abstract

ObjectiveThis study aimed to evaluate the visibility of different subgroups of lung nodules of &amp;lt;3 cm using the pointwise encoding time reduction with radial acquisition (PETRA) sequence on 3T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in comparison with that obtained using low-dose computed tomography (LDCT).MethodsThe appropriate detection rate was calculated for each of the different subgroups of lung nodules of &amp;lt;3 cm. The mean diameter of each detected nodule was determined. The detection rates and diameters of the lung nodules detected by MRI with the PETRA sequence were compared with those detected by computed tomography (CT). The sensitivity of detection for the different subgroups of pulmonary nodules was determined based on the location, size, type of nodules and morphologic characteristics. Agreement of nodule characteristics between CT and MRI were assessed by intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and Kappa test.ResultsThe CT scans detected 256 lung nodules, comprising 99 solid nodules (SNs) and 157 subsolid nodules with a mean nodule diameter of 8.3 mm. For the SNs, the MRI detected 30/47 nodules of &amp;lt;6 mm in diameter and 52/52 nodules of ≥6 mm in diameter. For the subsolid nodules, the MRI detected 30/51 nodules of &amp;lt;6 mm in diameter and 102/106 nodules of ≥6 mm in diameter. The PETRA sequence returned a high detection rate (84%). The detection rates of SN, ground glass nodules, and PSN were 82%, 72%, and 94%, respectively. For nodules with a diameter of &amp;gt;6 mm, the sensitivity of the PETRA sequence reached 97%, with a higher rate for nodules located in the upper lung fields than those in the middle and lower lung fields. Strong agreement was found between the CT and PETRA results (correlation coefficients = 0.97).ConclusionThe PETRA technique had high sensitivity for different type of nodule detection and enabled accurate assessment of their diameter and morphologic characteristics. It may be an effective alternative to CT as a tool for screening and follow up pulmonary nodules.

Combined anatomical MRI differentiates pulmonary invasive adenocarcinoma from tuberculoma in noncalcified nodule: a retrospective comparison of CT with MRI

“…UTE refers to a TE shorter than 200μs, which has delivered image quality close to that of CT and has been used for diagnosis of pulmonary diseases (11,22,24,(27)(28)(29)(30). The UTE morphological features agreed well with that of CT scanning (24,27). However, UTE is not a conventional sequence widely available in all MRI scanners.…”

“…The previous studies were mainly focused on the pulmonary nodules/masses detection, while the assessment of nodules' morphological features by MRI is scarce (18, 24,26,27). UTE refers to a TE shorter than 200μs, which has delivered image quality close to that of CT and has been used for diagnosis of pulmonary diseases (11,22,24,(27)(28)(29)(30).…”