Reliability and exactness of MRI-based volumetry: a phantom study

J Magn Reson Imaging. 1996 Jul-Aug;6(4):700-4. doi: 10.1002/jmri.1880060421.

Abstract

This study investigated the influence of slice thickness, section orientation, contrast, shape, and sequence type on the exactness of MRI-based volumetry. Ni-doped agarose gel phantoms (4 to 46 ml) were scanned with a T1-weighted three-dimensional Fourier transform (FT) fast low-angle shot (FLASH) and a multiecho two-dimensional FT-Turbo spin-echo (SE) sequence. After segmentation with a three-dimensional region-growing algorithm, the geometric volume was measured considering the partial volume effect. The variability coefficient (Pearson) was .7%. The volumetric error increased with slice thickness, depending on the size and form of the object. Cross sections resulted in smaller error than longitudinal sections (finger-shaped phantoms, nonisotropic image data). Three-dimensional FT imaging. Results of slice thickness and section orientation experiments can be explained by the partial volume effect Higher errors in two-dimensional FT imaging were caused by object movements between two interleaved acquisitions. The study shows a considerable influence of the imaging parameters on the exactness, which depends on size and form of the structure of interest.

MeSH terms

  • Algorithms
  • Fourier Analysis
  • Gels
  • Humans
  • Image Enhancement / methods
  • Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging / methods*
  • Nickel
  • Phantoms, Imaging
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Sepharose
  • Software

Substances

  • Gels
  • Nickel
  • Sepharose