Advanced image reconstruction strategies for 4D prostate DCE-MRI: steps toward clinical practicality

Dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) MRI is an important tool for the detection and characterization of primary and recurring prostate cancer. Advanced reconstruction strategies (e.g., sparse or low-rank regression) provide improved depiction of contrast dynamics and pharmacokinetic parameters; however, the high computation cost of reconstructing 4D (3D+time, 50+ frames) datasets typically inhibits their routine clinical use. Here, a novel alternating direction method-of-multipliers (ADMM) optimization strategy is described that enables these methods to be executed in ∠5 minutes, and thus within the standard clinical workflow. After overviewing the mechanics of this approach, high-performance implementation strategies will be discussed and demonstrated through clinical cases.