Department of Head and Neck Oncology and Surgery, Netherlands Cancer Institute, Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, Plesmanlaan 121, 1066 CX, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Amsterdam University Medical Centers, University of Amsterdam, Cancer Center Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
MAGMA. 2022 Jun;35(3):411-419. doi: 10.1007/s10334-021-00973-6. Epub 2021 Nov 15.
Dysphagia or difficulty in swallowing is a potentially hazardous clinical problem that needs regular monitoring. Real-time 2D MRI of swallowing is a promising radiation-free alternative to the current clinical standard: videofluoroscopy. However, aspiration may be missed if it occurs outside this single imaged slice. We therefore aimed to image swallowing in 3D real time at 12 frames per second (fps).
At 3 T, three 3D real-time MRI acquisition approaches were compared to the 2D acquisition: an aligned stack-of-stars (SOS), and a rotated SOS with a golden-angle increment and with a tiny golden-angle increment. The optimal 3D acquisition was determined by computer simulations and phantom scans. Subsequently, five healthy volunteers were scanned and swallowing parameters were measured.
Although the rotated SOS approaches resulted in better image quality in simulations, in practice, the aligned SOS performed best due to the limited number of slices. The four swallowing phases could be distinguished in 3D real-time MRI, even though the spatial blurring was stronger than in 2D. The swallowing parameters were similar between 2 and 3D.
At a spatial resolution of 2-by-2-by-6 mm with seven slices, swallowing can be imaged in 3D real time at a frame rate of 12 fps.
吞咽困难或吞咽困难是一个潜在的危险临床问题，需要定期监测。实时二维磁共振成像（MRI）是一种有前途的无辐射替代目前的临床标准：透视。然而，如果在单次成像切片之外发生吸入，可能会错过。因此，我们旨在每秒 12 帧（fps）实时成像吞咽。
在 3T 下，将三种三维实时 MRI 采集方法与二维采集方法进行了比较：对齐的星形堆叠（SOS），以及具有黄金角增量和微小黄金角增量的旋转 SOS。通过计算机模拟和体模扫描确定了最佳的 3D 采集方法。随后，对五名健康志愿者进行了扫描，并测量了吞咽参数。
尽管旋转 SOS 方法在模拟中产生了更好的图像质量，但在实际中，由于切片数量有限，对齐的 SOS 表现最佳。即使空间模糊比二维更严重，也可以在三维实时 MRI 中区分四个吞咽阶段。2D 和 3D 之间的吞咽参数相似。
在空间分辨率为 2×2×6mm 且有 7 个切片的情况下，在 12fps 的帧率下可以对吞咽进行三维实时成像。
