Clinical Feasibility of two Cardiac Deep Learning Cine MRI Sequences: Single-Breath-Hold and Free-Breathing Motion-Corrected Approaches.
Authors
Affiliations (5)
Affiliations (5)
- Department of Radiology, Beijing Friendship Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
- MR Research Collaboration, Shanghai United Imaging Healthcare Co., Ltd. Shanghai, China.
- Academy of Medical Engineering and Translational Medicine, Tianjin University; R&D Center, Beijing Shuxi Technology Co., Ltd.
- R&D Center, Beijing Shuxi Technology Co., Ltd.
- Department of Radiology, Beijing Friendship Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
Abstract
Cardiac cine MRI faces the challenges of prolonged examination times and repeated breathhold (BH). This study evaluated the clinical feasibility of the deep learning (DL)-accelerated cine sequences, which shorten the acquisition time (AT) and achieve comparable image quality (IQ) and function. This prospective study included patients who underwent 3T cardiac MRI from August 2024 to March 2025. The examination included three cine sequences [2D segmented cine, 2D single-BH DL cine, and 2D free-breathing motion-corrected DL cine (FB-MOCO DL cine)]. The actual total AT (including the time for short+long-axis scans, BH instructions and rest time between BHs) were recorded. The overall IQ, blood pool myocardial signal ratio (BMC), edge sharpness, three-dimensional volumetric mesh contour quality, biventricular cardiac function parameters, and left ventricular (LV) strain parameters were evaluated. The Friedman test was used to compare the above parameters among the three cine sequences. Correlation analysis and Bland-Altman analysis were used to evaluate the correlation and consistency between the two cine sequences. Eighty-six patients were evaluated (52.98±14.34 years, 79% male). Compared with segmented cine [239.70 (224.55, 260.15)]s, the total AT of single-BH DL cine [63.55 (60.98, 66.00)]s and FB-MOCO DL cine [90.65 (79.43, 103.80)]s decreased by 73% and 62% respectively. There were no statistically significant differences in overall IQ, biventricular functional parameters among the three cine sequences. The three-dimensional volumetric mesh contour scores of the single-BH DL cine and FB-MOCO DL cine were higher than those of the segmented cine (p <0.001 and 0.04), but the edge sharpness and BMC were lower than those of the segmented cine. The LV strain of the two fast cine sequences was lower than that of the segmented cine. Compared with traditional segmented cine, DL-accelerated cine enables ventricular imaging in a shorter acquisition time, with preserved IQ and quantitative cardiac function results.