Skip to main content
Key Specialties
Cardiology Diabetology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatrics and Gerontology Gynecology and Obstetrics Hematology Infectious Disease Internal Medicine Nephrology Neurology Oncology Pediatrics Respiratory Medicine Rheumatology Surgery
Congress Coverage
2024 ACC Congress 2023 ESMO Congress 2023 EASD Congress 2023 ERS Congress 2023 ESC Congress
Clinical Collections
Advances in Alzheimer’s

At a glance: The STEP trials

A round-up of the STEP phase 3 clinical trials evaluating semaglutide for weight loss in people with overweight or obesity.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
European Radiology
Published in: European Radiology 8/2015

01-08-2015 | Magnetic Resonance

Temperature dependence of postmortem MR quantification for soft tissue discrimination

Authors: Wolf-Dieter Zech, Nicole Schwendener, Anders Persson, Marcel J. Warntjes, Christian Jackowski

Published in: European Radiology | Issue 8/2015

Login to get access

Abstract

Objectives

To investigate and correct the temperature dependence of postmortem MR quantification used for soft tissue characterization and differentiation in thoraco-abdominal organs.

Material and methods

Thirty-five postmortem short axis cardiac 3-T MR examinations were quantified using a quantification sequence. Liver, spleen, left ventricular myocardium, pectoralis muscle and subcutaneous fat were analysed in cardiac short axis images to obtain mean T1, T2 and PD tissue values. The core body temperature was measured using a rectally inserted thermometer. The tissue-specific quantitative values were related to the body core temperature. Equations to correct for temperature differences were generated.

Results

In a 3D plot comprising the combined data of T1, T2 and PD, different organs/tissues could be well differentiated from each other. The quantitative values were influenced by the temperature. T1 in particular exhibited strong temperature dependence. The correction of quantitative values to a temperature of 37 °C resulted in better tissue discrimination.

Conclusion

Postmortem MR quantification is feasible for soft tissue discrimination and characterization of thoraco-abdominal organs. This provides a base for computer-aided diagnosis and detection of tissue lesions. The temperature dependence of the T1 values challenges postmortem MR quantification. Equations to correct for the temperature dependence are provided.

Key points

• Postmortem MR quantification is feasible for soft tissue discrimination and characterization
• Temperature dependence of the T1 values challenges the MR quantification approach
• The results provide the basis for computer-aided postmortem MRI diagnosis
• Diagnostic criteria may also be applied for living patients
Literature
1.
Patriquin L, Kassarjian A, Barish M et al (2001) Postmortem whole-body magnetic resonance imaging as an adjunct to autopsy: preliminary clinical experience. J Magn Reson Imaging 13:277–287PubMedCrossRef
2.
Roberts IS, Benbow EW, Bisset R et al (2003) Accuracy of magnetic resonance imaging in determining cause of sudden death in adults: comparison with conventional autopsy. Histopathology 42:424–430PubMedCrossRef
3.
Dirnhofer R, Jackowski C, Vock P, Potter K, Thali MJ (2006) VIRTOPSY: minimally invasive, imaging-guided virtual autopsy. Radiographics 26:1305–1333PubMedCrossRef
4.
Lundström C, Persson A, Ross S et al (2012) State-of-the-art of visualization in post-mortem imaging. APMIS 120:316–326PubMedCrossRef
5.
Jackowski C, Thali MJ, Buck U et al (2006) Noninvasive estimation of organ weights by postmortem magnetic resonance imaging and multislice computed tomography. Invest Radiol 41:572–578PubMedCrossRef
6.
Jackowski C, Thali MJ, Aghayev E et al (2006) Postmortem imaging of blood and its characteristics using MSCT and MRI. Int J Legal Med 120:233–240PubMedCrossRef
7.
Fitzmaurice GJ, Wishart V, Graham AN (2013) An unexpected mortality following cardiac surgery: a post-mortem diagnosis of cardiac amyloidosis. Gen Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 61:417–421PubMedCrossRef
8.
Aghayev E, Sonnenschein M, Jackowski C et al (2006) Postmortem radiology of fatal hemorrhage: measurements of cross-sectional areas of major blood vessels and volumes of aorta and spleen on MDCT and volumes of heart chambers on MRI. AJR Am J Roentgenol 187:209–215PubMedCrossRef
9.
Kuroiwa Y, Yamashita A, Nishihira K et al (2011) Cardiac rupture in acute myocardial infarction: post-mortem MR imaging. Magn Reson Med Sci 10:255–258PubMedCrossRef
10.
Jackowski C, Christe A, Sonnenschein M, Aghayev E, Thali MJ (2006) Postmortem unenhanced magnetic resonance imaging of myocardial infarction in correlation to histological infarction age characterization. Eur Heart J 27:2459–2467PubMedCrossRef
11.
Jackowski C, Warntjes MJ, Berge J, Bar W, Persson A (2011) Magnetic resonance imaging goes postmortem: noninvasive detection and assessment of myocardial infarction by postmortem MRI. Eur Radiol 21:70–78PubMedCrossRef
12.
Thayyil S, Sebire NJ, Chitty LS et al (2013) Post-mortem MRI versus conventional autopsy in fetuses and children: a prospective validation study. Lancet 382:223–233PubMedCrossRef
13.
Jackowski C, Hofmann K, Schwendener N, Schweitzer W, Keller-Sutter M (2011) Coronary thrombus and peracute myocardial infarction visualized by unenhanced postmortem MRI prior to autopsy. Forensic Sci Int 214:e16–e19PubMedCrossRef
14.
Jackowski C, Schweitzer W, Thali MJ et al (2005) Virtopsy: postmortem imaging of the human heart in situ using MSCT and MRI. Forensic Sci Int 149:11–23PubMedCrossRef
15.
Jackowski C, Schwendener N, Grabherr S, Persson A (2013) Postmortem cardiac 3T magnetic resonance imaging: visualizing the sudden cardiac death? J Am Coll Cardiol 62:617–629PubMedCrossRef
16.
Warntjes JB, Dahlqvist O, Lundberg P (2007) Novel method for rapid, simultaneous T1, T*2, and proton density quantification. Magn Reson Med 57:528–537PubMedCrossRef
17.
Warntjes JB, Leinhard OD, West J, Lundberg P (2008) Rapid magnetic resonance quantification on the brain: optimization for clinical usage. Magn Reson Med 60:320–329PubMedCrossRef
18.
19.
Blystad I, Warntjes JB, Smedby O, Landtblom AM, Lundberg P, Larsson EM (2012) Synthetic MRI of the brain in a clinical setting. Acta Radiol 53:1158–1163PubMedCrossRef
20.
Jackowski C, Warntjes MJ, Kihlberg J, Berge J, Thali MJ, Persson A (2011) Quantitative MRI in isotropic spatial resolution for forensic soft tissue documentation. Why and how? J Forensic Sci 56:208–215PubMedCrossRef
21.
Vågberg M, Lindqvist T, Ambarki K et al (2013) Automated determination of brain parenchymal fraction in multiple sclerosis. AJNR Am J Neuroradiol 34:498–504PubMedCrossRef
22.
23.
Liu CY, Bluemke DA, Gerstenblith G et al (2014) Reference values of myocardial structure, function, and tissue composition by cardiac magnetic resonance in healthy African-Americans at 3T and their relations to serologic and cardiovascular risk factors. Am J Cardiol 114:789–795PubMedCrossRef
24.
von Knobelsdorff-Brenkenhoff F, Prothmann M, Dieringer MA (2013) Myocardial T1 and T2 mapping at 3 T: reference values, influencing factors and implications. J Cardiovasc Magn Reson 15:53CrossRef
25.
Bazelaire C, Duhamel GD, Rofsky NM, Alsop DC (2004) MR imaging relaxation times of abdominal and pelvic tissues measured in vivo at 3.0 T: preliminary results. Radiology 230:652–659PubMedCrossRef
26.
Ding Y, Mason RP, McColl RW et al (2013) Simultaneous measurement of tissue oxygen level-dependent (TOLD) and blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) effects in abdominal tissue oxygenation level studies. J Magn Reson Imaging 38:1230–1236PubMedCrossRef
27.
28.
Ljung P, Winskog C, Persson A, Lundström C, Ynnerman A (2006) Full body virtual autopsies using a state-of-the-art volume rendering pipeline. IEEE Trans Vis Comput Graph 12:869–876PubMedCrossRef
29.
Persson A, Lindblom M, Jackowski C (2011) A state-of-the-art pipeline for postmortem CT and MRI visualization: from data acquisition to interactive image interpretation at autopsy. Acta Radiol 52:522–536PubMedCrossRef
30.
Dickinson RJ, Hall AS, Hind AJ, Young IR (1986) Measurement of changes in tissue temperature using MR imaging. J Comput Assist Tomogr 10:468–472PubMed
31.
Wlodarczyk W, Hentschel M, Wust P et al (1999) Comparison of four magnetic resonance methods for mapping small temperature changes. Phys Med Biol 44:607–624PubMedCrossRef
32.
Peller M, Kurze V, Loeffler R et al (2003) Hyperthermia induces T1 relaxation and blood flow changes in tumors. A MRI thermometry study in vivo. Magn Reson Imaging 21:545–551PubMedCrossRef
33.
Parker DL, Smith V, Sheldon P, Crooks LE, Fussell L (1983) Temperature distribution measurements in two-dimensional NMR imaging. Med Phys 10:321–325PubMedCrossRef
34.
Youl BD, Hawkins CP, Morris JK, DuBoulay EP, Tofts PS (1992) In vivo T1 values from guinea pig brain depend on body temperature. Magn Reson Med 24:170–173PubMedCrossRef
35.
Haacke ME, Brown RW, Thompson MR, Venkatesh N (1999) Magnetic resonance imaging-physical principles and sequence design. Wiley, New York
36.
Ruder TD, Hatch GM, Siegenthaler L et al (2012) The influence of body temperature on image contrast in post mortem MRI. Eur J Radiol 81:1366–1370PubMedCrossRef
Metadata
Title
Temperature dependence of postmortem MR quantification for soft tissue discrimination
Authors
Wolf-Dieter Zech
Nicole Schwendener
Anders Persson
Marcel J. Warntjes
Christian Jackowski
Publication date
01-08-2015
Publisher
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in
European Radiology / Issue 8/2015
Print ISSN: 0938-7994
Electronic ISSN: 1432-1084
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-015-3588-4

Other articles of this Issue 8/2015

European Radiology 8/2015 Go to the issue

Gastrointestinal

Gadoxetic acid-enhanced MRI and diffusion-weighted imaging for the detection of colorectal liver metastases after neoadjuvant chemotherapy

Nuclear Medicine

PET/MRI and PET/CT in advanced gynaecological tumours: initial experience and comparison

Nuclear Medicine

Evaluation of several FDG PET parameters for prediction of soft tissue tumour grade at primary diagnosis and recurrence

Chest

CT findings of minimally invasive adenocarcinoma (MIA) of the lung and comparison of solid portion measurement methods at CT in 52 patients

Chest

Prevalence and progression of combined pulmonary fibrosis and emphysema in asymptomatic smokers: A case-control study

Computed Tomography

Use of Model-Based Iterative Reconstruction (MBIR) in reduced-dose CT for routine follow-up of patients with malignant lymphoma: dose savings, image quality and phantom study