Chest PET/MRI in Solid Cancers: Comparing the Diagnostic Performance of a Free‐Breathing 3D‐T1‐GRE Stack‐of‐Stars Volume Interpolated Breath‐Hold Examination (StarVIBE) Acquisition With That of a 3D‐T1‐GRE Volume Interpolated Breath‐Hold Examination (VIBE) for Chest Staging During Whole‐Body PET/MRI

Background Whole‐body positron emission tomography/magnetic resonance imaging (WB‐PET/MRI) is increasingly used in oncology. However, chest staging remains challenging. Purpose To compare the diagnostic performance of a free‐breathing 3D‐T1‐GRE stack‐of‐stars volume interpolated breath‐hold examination (StarVIBE) with that of a 3D‐T1‐GRE volume interpolated breath‐hold examination (VIBE) during WB‐PET/MRI for chest staging. Study Type Retrospective, cohort study. Population One hundred and twenty‐three patients were referred for initial staging of solid cancer, 46 of whom had pulmonary nodules and 14 had pulmonary metastasis. Field Strength/Sequence Free‐breathing 3D‐T1‐GRE stack‐of‐stars (StarVIBE) and Cartesian 3D‐T1‐GRE VIBE at 3.0 T. Assessment Image quality was assessed using a 4‐point scale and using the signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR) of lung parenchyma and contrast‐to‐noise ratio (CNR) of pulmonary nodules. Diagnostic performances of both sequences were determined by three independent radiologists for detection of pulmonary nodules, lymph node involvement, and bone metastases using chest CT, pathology, and follow‐up as reference standards. Statistical Tests Paired Student's t‐test; chi‐squared; Fisher's exact test. A P value