Evaluating Stack-of-Stars and FLORET 3D Ultrashort Echo Time MRI to Assess Structural Pathology in Cystic Fibrosis Lung Disease

Motivation: Lung MRI is challenging due to rapid signal decay and respiratory motion, which are mitigated by Ultrashort-Echo Time (UTE). This study evaluates the ability of two UTE sequences, Stack-of-Stars (SoS) and FLORET to identify lung abnormalities in people with cystic fibrosis (pwCF). Goal(s): Compare image quality and clinical relevance of SoS and FLORET lung UTE in pwCF. Approach: Twenty-seven pwCF underwent SoS and FLORET 3D-UTE imaging. Images were evaluated quantitatively and via reader scoring, relative to CT. Results: Relative to SoS, FLORET provided superior image quality and improved sensitivity to abnormalities, with FLORET-derived scores correlating significantly with those from CT. Impact: Compared to Stack-of-Stars, FLORET 3D-UTE, provides isotropic sampling and better respiratory gating and thus enabled superior lung imaging in pwCF. Reader-scoring of lung abnormalities correlated better with CT scores, suggesting superior clinical utility.