Statistical Comparison of Tofts-Model Parameters with Descriptive and Approximated Descriptive Parameters

Hendrik Oliver Arp Laue¹, Christian M. Zechmann², Patrik Zamecnik², Horst Karl Hahn¹, Heinz-Otto Peitgen¹

Dedicated tracer kinetics model for DCE-MRI data are gaining importance since they allow extracting vascular tissue properties. Most of these models require extensive time for calculating parameter maps, especially with the increase of spatial and temporal resolution. These processing times are generally too long for the clinical routine. Descriptive parameters are faster and less vulnerable to optimization errors. But they lack the linkage to physiological parameters and the higher sensitivity to noise. In this work, we correlated a number of simple descriptive parameters to the parameters of the Tofts-model to identify candidates to bypass time consuming calculations.