Feasibility of Magnetic Resonance Fingerprinting on Aging MRI Hardware

The purpose of this work is to evaluate the feasibility of performing magnetic resonance fingerprinting (MRF) on older and lower-performance MRI hardware as a means to bring advanced imaging to the aging MRI install base. Phantom and in vivo experiments were performed on a 1.5T Siemens Aera (installed 2015) and 1.5T Siemens Symphony (installed 2002). A 2D spiral MRF sequence for simultaneous T(1)/T(2)/M(0) mapping was implemented on both scanners with different gradient trajectories to accommodate system specifications. In phantom, for T(1)/T(2) values in a physiologically relevant range (T(1): 195–1539 ms; T(2): 20–267 ms), scanners had strong correlation (R(2) > 0.999) with average absolute percent difference of 8.1% and 10.1%, respectively. Comparison of the two trajectories on the newer scanner showed differences of 2.6% (T(1)) and 10.9% (T(2)), suggesting a partial explanation of the observed inter-scanner bias. Inter-scanner agreement was better when the same trajectory was used, with differences of 6.0% (T(1)) and 4.0% (T(2)). Intra-scanner coefficient of variation (CV) of T(1) and T(2) estimates in phantom were <2.0% and in vivo were ≤3.5%. In vivo inter-scanner white matter CV was 4.8% (T(1)) and 5.1% (T(2)). White matter measurements on the aging scanner after two months were consistent, with differences of 1.9% (T(1)) and 3.9% (T(2)). In conclusion, MRF is feasible on an aging MRI scanner and required only changes to the gradient trajectory.