TY - JOUR
T1 - Pulseq-CEST
T2 - Towards multi-site multi-vendor compatibility and reproducibility of CEST experiments using an open-source sequence standard
AU - Herz, Kai
AU - Mueller, Sebastian
AU - Perlman, Or
AU - Zaitsev, Maxim
AU - Knutsson, Linda
AU - Sun, Phillip Zhe
AU - Zhou, Jinyuan
AU - van Zijl, Peter
AU - Heinecke, Kerstin
AU - Schuenke, Patrick
AU - Farrar, Christian T.
AU - Schmidt, Manuel
AU - Dörfler, Arnd
AU - Scheffler, Klaus
AU - Zaiss, Moritz
N1 - Funding Information:
Max Planck Society, German Research Foundation (ZA 814/5-1, SCHU 3468/1-1, SFB 1340 project C03, and Reinhart Koselleck project DFG SCHE 658/12); National Institutes of Health (P41 EB015909, RO1EB019934, RO1 EB015032, R01 CA203873, and P41 EB024495); Swedish Research Council (2015-04170 and 2019-03637); Swedish Cancer Society (CAN 2015/251 and 2018/550); and European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program (Marie Skłodowska-Curie Grant No. 836752) The authors thank the developers of Pulseq and pypulseq (https://github.com/imr-framework/pypulseq). This paper reflects the authors’ views only; the Research Executive Agency of the European Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains. Open access funding enabled and organized by ProjektDEAL.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine
PY - 2021/10
Y1 - 2021/10
N2 - Purpose: As the field of CEST grows, various novel preparation periods using different parameters are being introduced. At the same time, large, multisite clinical studies require clearly defined protocols, especially across different vendors. Here, we propose a CEST definition standard using the open Pulseq format for a shareable, simple, and exact definition of CEST protocols. Methods: We present the benefits of such a standard in three ways: (1) an open database on GitHub, where fully defined, human-readable CEST protocols can be shared; (2) an open-source Bloch-McConnell simulation to test and optimize CEST preparation periods in silico; and (3) a hybrid MR sequence that plays out the CEST preparation period and can be combined with any existing readout module. Results: The exact definition of the CEST preparation period, in combination with the flexible simulation, leads to a good match between simulations and measurements. The standard allowed finding consensus on three amide proton transfer–weighted protocols that could be compared in healthy subjects and a tumor patient. In addition, we could show coherent multisite results for a sophisticated CEST method, highlighting the benefits regarding protocol sharing and reproducibility. Conclusion: With Pulseq-CEST, we provide a straightforward approach to standardize, share, simulate, and measure different CEST preparation schemes, which are inherently completely defined.
AB - Purpose: As the field of CEST grows, various novel preparation periods using different parameters are being introduced. At the same time, large, multisite clinical studies require clearly defined protocols, especially across different vendors. Here, we propose a CEST definition standard using the open Pulseq format for a shareable, simple, and exact definition of CEST protocols. Methods: We present the benefits of such a standard in three ways: (1) an open database on GitHub, where fully defined, human-readable CEST protocols can be shared; (2) an open-source Bloch-McConnell simulation to test and optimize CEST preparation periods in silico; and (3) a hybrid MR sequence that plays out the CEST preparation period and can be combined with any existing readout module. Results: The exact definition of the CEST preparation period, in combination with the flexible simulation, leads to a good match between simulations and measurements. The standard allowed finding consensus on three amide proton transfer–weighted protocols that could be compared in healthy subjects and a tumor patient. In addition, we could show coherent multisite results for a sophisticated CEST method, highlighting the benefits regarding protocol sharing and reproducibility. Conclusion: With Pulseq-CEST, we provide a straightforward approach to standardize, share, simulate, and measure different CEST preparation schemes, which are inherently completely defined.
KW - CEST
KW - Pulseq
KW - open-source
KW - standardization
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U2 - 10.1002/mrm.28825
DO - 10.1002/mrm.28825
M3 - Article
C2 - 33961312
AN - SCOPUS:85105221734
VL - 86
SP - 1845
EP - 1858
JO - Magnetic Resonance in Medicine
JF - Magnetic Resonance in Medicine
SN - 0740-3194
IS - 4
ER -