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Abstract #4201

An Automatic Parenchyma Extraction Method for MRI R2* Relaxoemtry of Iron Loaded Liver

Meiyan Feng1, Huashuai Gao1, Xinyuan Zhang1, Yanqiu Feng1, Wufan Chen1, Xuegang Xin1, Taigang He2, 3

1School of Biomedical Engineering, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China; 2Cardiovascular Biomedical Research Unit, Royal Brompton Hospital, London, United Kingdom; 3National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College, London, United Kingdom


The whole liver ROI method for R2* measurement has been shown better reproducibility than the routinely used mROI method, but still suffers from noise, partial volume effect and subjective segmentation of liver parenchyma and vessels. We proposed an automatic parenchyma extraction (APE) method of R2* measurement, the measurement accuracy of which was evaluated in both simulation and patient studies. The mean R2* evaluation error percentage and the coefficient of variation (CoV) of inter-observer reproducibility for the APE method severally were 0.34% and 1.39%. The proposed APE method may be important for increasing the diagnostic confidence of R2* measurement.