Temperature imaging of laser-induced thermotherapy (LITT) by MRI: evaluation of different sequences in phantom

The purpose of this study was to evaluate magnetic resonance (MR) temperature imaging of the laser-induced thermotherapy (LITT) comparing the proton resonance frequency (PRF) and T1 thermometry methods. LITT was applied to a liver-mimicking acrylamide gel phantom. Temperature rise up to 70 °C was measured using a MR-compatible fiber-optic thermometer. MR imaging was performed by a 1.5-T scanner utilizing fast gradient echo sequences including a segmented echo planar imaging (seg-EPI) sequence for PRF and the following sequences for T1 method: fast low-angle shot (FLASH), inversion recovery turbo flash (IRTF), saturation recovery turbo flash (SRTF), and true fast imaging (TRUFI). Temperature-induced change of the pixel values in circular regions of interest, selected on images under the temperature probe tip, was recorded. For each sequence, a calibration constant could be determined to be −0.0088 ± 0.0002 ppm °C−1 (EPI), −1.15 ± 0.03 °C−1 (FLASH), −1.49 ± 0.03 °C−1 (IRTF), −1.21 ± 0.03 °C−1 (SRTF), and −2.52 ± 0.12 °C−1 (TRUFI). These constants were evaluated in further LITT experiments in phantom comparing the calculated temperatures with the fiber optic-measured ones; temperature precisions of 0.60 °C (EPI), 0.81 °C (FLASH), 1.85 °C (IRTF), 1.95 °C (SRTF), and 3.36 °C (TRUFI) were obtained. Furthermore, performing the Bland–Altman analysis, temperature accuracy was determined to be 0.23 °C (EPI), 0.31 °C (FLASH), 1.66 °C (IRTF), 1.19 °C (SRTF), and 3.20 °C (TRUFI). In conclusion, the seg-EPI sequence was found to be more convenient for MR temperature imaging of LITT due to its relatively high precision and accuracy. Among the T1 method sequences, FLASH showed the highest accuracy and robustness.

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