Free-breathing motion compensation using template matching: a technique allowing for tracer kinetic modeling of liver metastases.

Modeling tracer kinetics from dynamic magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) to understand microvascular characteristics typically requires acquisitions longer than 1 breath-hold. This has limited the application of dMRI in assessment of the upper abdomen. Here we present a template-based motion correction strategy for dMRI of liver metastases based on the correlation coefficient (CC), originally developed for tracking coronary arteries. This postprocessing method allows patient free breathing during sagittal dMRI acquisition and allows a more precise parametric mapping using tracer kinetic models. In a study of 6 subjects, a 64 x 64 template was accurately tracked retrospectively with mean CC = 0.72 +/- 0.07. Mean superior-inferior displacement tracked was 1.82 +/- 1.20 pixels, whereas mean anterior-posterior displacement was 7.72 +/- 4.58 pixels. Application of the CC method significantly improved the global fit (chi2) of a tracer kinetic model throughout tumor regions. Therefore, use of the CC postprocessing method for dMRI scans can improve the precision of dMRI tracer kinetic models.