Use of dynamic contrast enhanced time intensity curve shape analysis in MRI: theory and practice

Abstract:

The analysis of dynamic contrast enhanced data using the classification of the time intensity curve (TIC) shape is widely employed both in its region of interest and pixel by pixel variants. While its application in breast imaging is established and documented by a large amount of scientific works, its use for other body parts is still scattered and there is no consensus as to whether the method can be used alone to perform differential diagnosis in cancer or in inflammatory diseases. In this review we evaluate all the literature which makes use of TIC shape analysis in tissues other than breast, discuss the results, highlight the possible shortcomings, and suggest directions for future research.

Keywords::

• DCE-MRI
• TIC shape
• pattern recognition
• review