Uncertainty in MR tracer kinetic parameters and water exchange rates estimated from T1-weighted dynamic contrast enhanced MRI.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to assess the uncertainty in estimation of MR tracer kinetic parameters and water exchange rates in T1-weighted dynamic contrast enhanced (DCE) MRI.

METHODS: Simulated DCE-MRI data were used to assess four kinetic models; general kinetic model with a vascular compartment (GKM2), GKM2 combined with water exchange (SSM2), adiabatic approximation of the tissue homogeneity model (ATH), and ATH combined with water exchange (ATHX).

RESULTS: In GKM2 and SSM2, increase in transfer constant (K(trans)) led to underestimation of vascular volume fraction (vb), and increase in vb led to overestimation of K(trans). Such coupling between K(trans) and vb was not observed in ATH and ATHX. The precision of estimated intracellular water lifetime (τi) was substantially improved in both SSM2 and ATHX when K(trans) > 0.3 min(-1). K(trans) and vb from ATHX model had significantly smaller errors than those from ATH model (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION: The results of this study demonstrated the feasibility of measuring τi from DCE-MRI data albeit low precision. While the inclusion of water exchange improved the accuracy of K(trans), vb, and the interstitial volume fraction estimation (ve), it lowered the precision of other kinetic model parameters within the conditions investigated in this study.