Noninvasive automated motion assessment of intestinal motility by continuously tagged MR imaging.

Paardt, Marije P.; Sprengers, André M.J.; Zijta, Frank M.; Lamerichs, Rolf; Nederveen, Aart J.; Stoker, Jaap

Purpose To evaluate continuously tagged 3 Tesla MRI for monitoring glucagon-induced bowel motility changes in healthy volunteers. Materials and Methods After standardized oral bowel preparation, 10 healthy volunteers underwent a free-breathing, continuously tagged three-dimensional (3D) dynamic fast-field-echo (FFE), at a 3.36 Hz sampling frequency. One milligram of glucagon was administered intravenously during data acquisition. Each dataset was divided into four temporal sets of 2 min (period 1 to 4). Taglines were tracked automatically using a scale spaced based algorithm. Assessment of global spectral resolution was performed for three frequency intervals: 0.008-0.300 Hz (motility), 0.300-0.400 Hz (breathing motion), and 0.400-0.533 Hz (higher order motion). Additional analyses were performed at fine spectral resolution in frequency bands of 0.033 Hz. Glucagon-induced motility changes were investigated by means of a motility index (spectral power normalized to the maximal spectral power per-volunteer), resulting in a range of 0 to 1 (no motion to maximal motion). Statistical comparison was done for period 1 and 4 (Wilcoxon-signed rank test). Results After glucagon administration, a significant decrease in the motility index was found for the low- (0.008-0.300 Hz) ( P < 0.0001) and high-frequency interval (0.400-0.533 Hz) ( P < 0.0001). Around breathing motion frequencies, no decrease in motility index was detected. Conclusion Free-breathing, continuously tagged MR imaging is a noninvasive method for automated bowel motility assessment and allows for detection of drug-induced changes. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2014;39:9-16. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging, 2014, Vol 39, Issue 1, p9

1053-1807

Academic Journal

10.1002/jmri.24094