Magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography at 3 Tesla: Image quality comparison between 3D compressed sensing and 2D single-shot acquisitions

Abstract Objectives To compare the image quality between compressed sensing (CS) 3D-magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) using respiratory-triggered (RT) and breath-hold (BH) acquisitions and 2D single-shot breath-hold (SSBH) MRCP at 3 T MRI. Methods 53 datasets were retrospectively assessed. 3D-MRCP with CS (RT-CS10, BH-CS24) and 2D-SSBH MRCP were acquired. Overall image quality, blurring/motion artifacts and discernibility of the pancreaticobiliary tree (PBT) structures were scored on a 4-point scale by 2 radiologists. The contrast ratio between the common bile duct and its adjacent tissue was measured by region-of-interest (ROI) analysis. Signal intensity increase at the boundaries of the ducts was quantified by line profiles to objectively characterize blurring and motion artifacts. Results Total scan duration was 17 s for BH-CS24, 1m12 s for 2D-SSBH and 3m48 s for RT-CS10. Images acquired with CS were consistently rated superior in terms of image quality, background suppression, blurring and discernibility of PBT structures compared to 2D-SSBH images. RT-CS10 was superior to BH-CS24 for all ratings except for blurring. Objective analysis yielded the highest contrast ratio for RT-CS10 (0.91 ± 0.04) followed by BH-C24 (0.88 ± 0.05) and 2D-SSBH (0.85 ± 0.06); one-way ANOVA P  line-profile slope through the CBD was significantly higher in BH-CS24 (37.91 ± 6.38% of maximum intensity/mm) compared to RT-CS10 (29.46 ± 8.17% of maximum intensity/mm) and on par with 2D-SSBH (35.8 ± 12.30% of maximum intensity/mm); one-way-ANOVA P = 0.017. Conclusion CS allows acquisition of volumetric image data with improved image quality compared to SSBH. CS24 yields substantial gains in acquisition speed while robust towards artifacts, enabling diagnostic image quality with a single breath-hold acquisition.