Medical Imaging Interaction Toolkit  2023.04.00
Medical Imaging Interaction Toolkit
The DCE Concentration Curve Converter View

Table of Contents

Icon of the DCE Concentration Curve Converter View


Overview

This view offers a dedicated tool for the conversion of DCE MR image signal intensities to contrast agent (CA) concentration. It contains a subset of the conversion tools for T1-weighted signal intensities, which are a part of the DCE MR Perfusion Datafit View (see Signal to concentration conversion settings). Additionally, it allows for the conversion between T2-weighted MR signal intensities and contrast agent concentration.

Contact information

If you have any questions, need support, find a bug or have a feature request, feel free to contact us at www.mitk.org.

Conversion of T1-weighted MRI data

Example screenshot of the conversion of T1-weighted MR images


The view offers the choice between a 3D Image and a 4D image. If a 4D image is selected, the Selected Time Series needs to be specified. In this case, the baseline image is automatically extracted as the first time point image of the time series. In case of a 3D image to be converted, additionally to the selected 3D image a Baseline Image (without CA) has to be specified.

In the configuration section, the following types of conversion can be chosen:

  • Absolute Signal Enhancement: The contrast agent concentration c is calculated according to the formula: c = k*(S(t)-S(0)), where S(t) is the dynamic T1-weighted signal intensity, S(0) the baseline signal and k a user-defined conversion factor.
  • Relative Signal Enhancement: The contrast agent concentration c is calculated according to the formula: c = k*(S(t)-S(0))/S(0), where S(t) is the dynamic T1-weighted signal intensity, S(0) the baseline signal and k a user-defined conversion factor.
  • Turbo FLASH Sequence: The conversion from signal S(t) to contrast agent concentration c is calculated according to the turboFLASH (ultrafast gradient echo) sequence specific formula.

Conversion of T2-weighted MRI data

Example screenshot of the conversion of T2-weighted MR images


The contrast agent concentration c is calculated according to the formula: c = -k/TE*ln(S(t)/S(0)), where S(t) is the dynamic T2-weighted signal intensity, S(0) the baseline signal, k a user-defined conversion factor and TE the echo time of the employed sequence. In practice, the factor k is often set to unity.