Abstract #3106

Investigating the Effect of Intra-Voxel Contrast Agent Diffusion on Quantitative DCE-MRI

Stephanie L. Barnes¹,², Christopher C. Quarles¹,², Thomas E. Yankeelov¹,²

¹Radiology and Radiological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States; ²Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States

Quantitative DCE-MRI analysis does not account for diffusion of the contrast agent (CA) within a voxel. This work utilizes a finite element model of CA diffusion to investigate the effect of diffusion on intra-voxel CA distribution, and the resulting effect on voxel SI and parameterization error. The results show that decreasing homogeneity of CA distribution increase the difference in effective total voxel signal intensity (SI). Additionally, CA diffusion (over a range of relevant values) affects SI on a time scale on the order of common temporal resolutions. These results demonstrate the potential importance of CA diffusion in DCE-MRI analysis.