Evaluation of the reproducibility of virtual magnetic resonance elastography based on intravoxel incoherent motion diffusion weighted imaging in the infrapatellar fat pad

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• Clinical Article •

FAN Qiuju TAN Hui GUO Yanbing SHEN Li YU Nan YU Yong

Cite this article as: FAN Q J, TAN H, GUO Y B, et al. Evaluation of the reproducibility of virtual magnetic resonance elastography based on intravoxel incoherent motion diffusion weighted imaging in the infrapatellar fat pad[J]. Chin J Magn Reson Imaging, 2025, 16(1): 152-157. DOI:10.12015/issn.1674-8034.2025.01.023.

Abstract

[Abstract] Objective To explore the reproducibility of intravoxel incoherent motion diffusion weighted imaging (IVIM-DWI) based virtual magnetic resonance elastography (vMRE) in measuring the stiffness of infrapatellar fat pad (IPFP).Materials and Methods A total of 50 subjects underwent two IVIM-DWI examinations utilizing 10 b-values, with intervals of 30 to 60 minutes, employing an 18-channel knee coil. The shift apparent diffusion coefficient (sADC) was calculated from two different b-values (200 to 800 s/mm² and 200 to 1500 s/mm²), which were subsequently converted into virtual shear moduli based on IVIM-DWI MRI (μdiff_800 and μdiff_1500). Two readers independently outlined the entire IPFP region of interest (ROI) on the vMRE stiffness map to obtain the mean and standard deviation (SD) of μdiff. The intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC), coefficient of variation (CoV), and the limits of agreement (LoA) of Bland-Altmanwere utilized to evaluate short-term test-retest repeatability, as well as intra-observer and inter-observer consistency.Results The average and SD values of μdiff_1500 demonstrated excellent intra- and inter-observer consistency, with an ICC of ≥ 0.90 (P < 0.001). Notably, the intra-observer CoV for the SD values was greater than 10%. The intra and inter-observer ICC values for the average of μdiff_800 were 0.926 and 0.910, respectively (P < 0.001), while the ICC values for the SD of μdiff_800 were 0.841 and 0.855, respectively (P < 0.001), with all CoV exceeding 10%. In comparison to μdiff_800 (ICC = 0.886; CoV = 13.7%), the average of μdiff_1500 exhibited excellent repeatability upon retesting (ICC = 0.932; CoV = 7.5%). The average deviation (SD) between two scans of μdiff_1500 was -0.01 (0.37), whereas for μdiff_800, it was 0.05 (0.79). The 95% LoA for μdiff_1500 ranged from -0.88 to 0.87, while for μdiff_800, it ranged from -0.63 to 0.73.Conclusions The findings suggest that the vMRE, utilizing IVIM-DWI, holds substantial promise for assessing the tissue elasticity of the IPFP. Furthermore, the virtual elasticity values derived from b-value combinations of 200 to 1500 s/mm² demonstrate superior intra-observer and inter-observer consistency, as well as enhanced short-term test-retest repeatability.

[Keywords] infrapatellar fat pad；stiffness；magnetic resonance imaging；intravoxel incoherent motion；diffusion-weighted imaging；virtual magnetic resonance elastography

Contributor Information

FAN Qiuju¹ TAN Hui^{1,
2*} GUO Yanbing¹ SHEN Li¹ YU Nan¹ YU Yong¹

¹ Department of Radiology, Affiliated Hospital of Shaanxi University of Chinese Medicine, Xianyang 712000, China

² The First Clinical Medicine College of Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China

Corresponding author: TAN H, E-mail: cqtntanhui@163.com

Conflicts of interest None.

Publication Information

Received 2024-09-19

Accepted 2025-01-10

DOI: 10.12015/issn.1674-8034.2025.01.023

Text

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