Motion-robust Three-dimensional Magnetic Resonance Fingerprinting (MR-3DMRF) for Quantitative Abdominal Imaging

Motivation: Current abdominal magnetic resonance fingerprinting (MRF) techniques require breath-hold acquisition to avoid motion artifacts, which is difficult for patients with breathing difficulties. Goal(s): This study aims to develop a motion-robust three-dimensional MRF (MR-3DMRF) technique for abdominal patients and evaluate the repeatability of tissue property quantification. Approach: MR-3DMRF incorporates a non-smooth motion modeling method and a dynamic weighting strategy to allow free-breathing MRF acquisition and motion-resolved reconstruction. Results: Full-width half-maximum of organ boundaries in MR-3DMRF-derived tissue maps is 3.1mm±1.8mm, significantly lower than motion-blurred tissue maps (10.1mm±4.3mm). The linearity of test-retest MRF measurement for T1, T2, and PD was 0.982, 0.894, 0.925, respectively. Impact: This study, for the first time, investigates the feasibility of free-breathing MRF acquisition and motion-resolved MRF reconstruction on abdominal patients. The MR-3DMRF-derived tissue map are highly repeatable and accurate, potentially contribute to abdominal disease diagnosis and treatment assessment.