Objectives
MR fingerprinting (MRF) has the potential to quantify treatment response. This study evaluated the repeatability of MRF-derived T1 and T2 relaxation times in bone metastasis, bone, and muscle in patients with metastatic prostate cancer.
Materials and methods
This prospective single-centre study included same-day repeated MRF acquisitions from 20 patients (August 2019–October 2020). Phantom and human data were acquired on a 1.5-T MR scanner using a research MRF sequence outputting T1 and T2 maps. Regions of interest (ROIs) across three tissue types (bone metastasis, bone, muscle) were drawn on two separate acquisitions. Repeatability of T1 and T2 was assessed using Bland-Altman plots, together with repeatability (r) and intraclass correlation (ICC) coefficients. Mean T1 and T2 were reported per tissue type.
Results
Twenty patients with metastatic prostate cancer (mean age, 70 years ± 8 (standard deviation)) were evaluated and bone metastasis (n = 44), normal-appearing bone (n = 14), and muscle (n = 20) ROIs were delineated. Relative repeatability of T1 measurements was 6.9% (bone metastasis), 32.6% (bone), 5.8% (muscle) and 21.8%, 32.2%, 16.1% for T2 measurements. The ICC of T1 was 0.97 (bone metastasis), 0.94 (bone), 0.96 (muscle); ICC of T2 was 0.94 (bone metastasis), 0.94 (bone), 0.91 (muscle). T1 values in bone metastasis were higher than in bone (p < 0.001). T2 values showed no difference between bone metastasis and bone (p = 0.5), but could separate active versus treated metastasis (p < 0.001).
Conclusion
MRF allows repeatable T1 and T2 measurements in bone metastasis, bone, and muscle in patients with primary prostate cancer. Such measurements may help quantify the treatment response of bone metastasis.
Key Points
QuestionMR fingerprinting has the potential to characterise bone metastasis and its response to treatment.
FindingsRepeatability of MRF-basedT1measurements in bone metastasis and muscle was better than forT2.
Clinical relevanceMR fingerprinting allows repeatableT1andT2quantitative measurements in bone metastasis, bone, and muscle in patients with primary prostate cancer, which makes it potentially applicable for disease characterisation and assessment of treatment response.
