Assessing the Accuracy and Precision of Musculoskeletal Motion Tracking Using Cine-PC MRI on a 3.0 Tesla Platform

• Published in: Journal of biomechanics Vol. 44; no. 1; pp. 193 - 197
• Main Authors: Behnam, Abrahm J., Herzka, Daniel A., Sheehan, Frances T.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 21.09.2010
• ISSN: 0021-9290; 1873-2380
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jbiomech.2010.08.029

The rising cost of musculoskeletal pathology, disease, and injury creates a pressing need for accurate and reliable methods to quantify 3D musculoskeletal motion, fostering a renewed interest in this area over the past few years. To date, cine-phase contrast (PC) MRI remains the only technique capable of non-invasively tracking in vivo 3D musculoskeletal motion during volitional activity, but current scan times are long on the 1.5T MR platform (~2.5 minutes or 75 movement cycles). With the clinical availability of higher field strength magnets (3.0T) that have increased signal-to-noise ratios, it is likely that scan times can be reduced while improving accuracy. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to validate cine-PC MRI on a 3.0T platform, in terms of accuracy, precision and subject-repeatability, and to determine if scan time could be minimized. On the 3.0T platform it is possible to limit scan time to 2 minutes, with sub-millimeter accuracy (<0.33mm/0.97°), excellent technique precision (<0.18°), and strong subject-repeatability (<0.73 mm/1.10°). This represented a reduction in imaging time by 25% (42 seconds), a 50% improvement in accuracy, and a 72% improvement in technique precision over the original 1.5T platform. Scan time can be reduced to 1 minute (30 movement cycles), but the improvements in accuracy are not as large.