Quality assurance of quantitative MRI protocol for a hypoxia imaging clinical study in glioblastoma

Motivation: A quantitative MRI (qMRI) protocol was developed for a clinical study aimed at identifying regions of tumour hypoxia in glioblastoma patients. Technical validation of qMRI biomarkers requires thorough testing of the protocol against reference standards. Goal(s): To assess and report accuracy, repeatability, and reproducibility of the qMRI protocol. Approach: Test-retest scans of the NIST systems phantom were acquired on two 3T MAGNETOM VIDA scanners. Accuracy, repeatability and reproducibility of T1, T2 maps, and calibrated T1 maps from dynamic oxygen enhanced imaging were assessed. Results: qMRI parameters acquired with the study protocol showed accuracy, repeatability and reproducibility comparable to published literature findings. Impact: Accuracy and precision (repeatability and reproducibility) of a qMRI protocol for glioblastoma hypoxia imaging were quantified. T1, including calibrated dynamic values, showed high accuracy and precision. T2 showed low accuracy compared to published findings. T2 and T2* showed moderate precision.