Software-supported evaluation of gastric motility in MRI: A feasibility study

Introduction The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of dedicated motility assessment software for quantitative evaluation of basic gastric motility and to validate it using manual measurements. Methods Ten patients (5 males/5 females, mean 41 years) out of a previous series of small bowel MR‐enterography examinations with well visible stomachs were included in this Institutional Reviews Board approved, retrospective study. MRI (1.5‐T, Siemens Sonata) was performed after standardised oral preparation (3% aqueous mannitol over 1 h). Coronal 2DtrueFISP (TR 283.8/TE 1.89/FOV400/10 mm slice) motility acquisitions covering the entire abdomen were performed in apnoea. For each patient, image analysis for assessment of gastric motility was performed both manually and using the dedicated software either the proximal (n = 5) or in the distal (n = 5) gastric corpus. The main quantitative endpoints (amplitude, frequency) describing gastric motility were compared using (paired) Student's t‐Test. Results All motility curves qualitatively matched each other (10/10). No significant differences (P > 0.05) were found for amplitudes (mean: 18.17 mm manual; 17.78 mm software), contraction frequencies (5.1/min; 4.7/min) and mean lumen diameters (34.12 mm; 33.13 mm), respectively. Mean duration for a single measurement was significantly (P