Feasibility assessment of magnetic resonance-thermometry on pancreas undergoing laser ablation: Sensitivity analysis of three sequences

The aim of this study is to assess the sensitivity of MRI thermometry using three T1-weighted sequences (i.e., Inversion Recovery Turbo-FLASH, IRTF, Saturation Recovery Turbo-FLASH, SRTF, and FLASH) using an 1.5-T MR scanner on healthy swine pancreases undergoing LA. The reference temperature was measured by MRI-compatible fiber optic sensors (fiber Bragg grating sensors). The sensitivity of the proposed techniques was estimated and compared. The thermal sensitivity of the three sequences was −1.47 ± 0.08 °C−1, −0.95 ± 0.05 °C−1, and −0.56 ± 0.04 °C−1 for IRTF, SRTF and FLASH, respectively. Results show that the proposed technique may be adequate for temperature monitoring during LA.