The use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), in medicine is widespread. It can be used to diagnose, treat and monitor diseases like cancer. Experts interpret the images. A new study has shown that Quantitative MRI can offer more accuracy, repeatability, and speed, but it needs to be controlled rigorously to achieve its full potential.The study was led by researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. It involved 11 institutions comparing 27 MRI scanners of three vendors at nine sites across the country. The study used a "phantom" tissue stand-in (or tissue stand-in) originally created by NIST to evaluate the performance of MRI machines.MRI uses radio waves and magnetic fields to image the internal structures of the body, particularly soft tissues. Traditional MRI presents many challenges. In addition to subjective image analysis and drifting MRI scanners, different machines can produce contradictory images of the patient.Quantitative MRI can provide more reliable disease diagnosis, treatment and monitoring without the need to take tissue samples. It is possible to reproduce numerical tumor measurements and other disease markers across multiple patients, scanners, and clinics, potentially reducing medical costs. Although organizations such as the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine promote quantitative MRI, it is not currently used in routine patient care.New measurements by MRI scanners of a value called "T1" were compared to previous studies. This is a property of water molecules which can be affected by the surrounding tissue. One parameter that clinical MRI systems could measure is T1 in the images. However, subjective interpretations of MRI imaging images focus on "T1-weighted", which are qualitative and notnumerical judgments.Katy Keenan, NIST's study leader, stated that there is a big difference in the T1 and the current T1 weighted. "The pixel values cannot be compared with other datasets. It is difficult to compare T1-weighted datasets. Because the pixel values are quantitatively related to T1 data, it is possible to compare them in the case of well-acquired T1.The study revealed that T1 measurements could be subject to significant bias or variation. The study found that vendors didn't have a consistent pattern of discrepancies. As a result, a threshold value for diagnosing a T1 tumor on one MRI can't be transferred onto other MRI systems. These variations can make a difference in diagnosing benign or malignant brain tumors, which could have serious consequences for patient care, according to the study.The study suggested that quantitative MRI be subject to rigorous quality control procedures in order to increase confidence and stability and to transfer thresholds to diagnose, monitor disease progression and monitor treatment from research facilities to the whole clinical community. These results are similar to those of other researchers.The inconsistencies that occurred in the T1 value were an obstacle to earlier efforts to classify brain tumors. They also proved unreliable. Recent advances in quantitative measurement methods have allowed for improvements in accuracy, repeatability, and acquisition speed. This study represents a step towards applying the diagnostic threshold T1 measurement across multiple clinical locations.
