Quantitative DCE-MRI modeling on tumor diagnosis and treatment effect evaluation

Dynamic contrast enhanced (DCE) MRI is the method of choice for clinical tumor detection. There are three categories of DCE-MRI analysis methods including qualitative DCE-MRI, semi-quantitative DCE-MRI, and quantitative DCE-MRI. Among these three categories, quantitative DCE-MRI is the only one that could provide pharmacokinetic parameters and directly reveal physiological state of tumor. In this paper, we have made a brief review on quantitative DCE-MRI. Firstly, physiological basis of DCE-MRI was described in details. Then, two kinds of contrast agent, low molecular weighted contrast media (LMCM) and macromolecular contrast media (MMCM), are introduced respectively. After that, several T₁ weighted DCE-MRI data analysis methods are introduced, too. At last, possible further developments of DCE-MRI have been discussed.