# Feasibility of artificial intelligence-assisted fast magnetic resonance imaging technology in the ankle joint injury: a comparison of the proton density-weighted image

## TL;DR

This study shows that AI-assisted MRI can produce high-quality ankle images faster than traditional methods without losing diagnostic accuracy.

## Contribution

The novel contribution is demonstrating the feasibility of iQMR technology in ankle joint imaging with improved speed and image quality.

## Key findings

- iQMR-processed images had higher SNR and CNR than conventional raw images in most anatomical regions.
- iQMR-processed images showed better edge clarity and overall image quality compared to conventional raw images.
- Diagnostic confidence was high with iQMR-processed images, with no loss in ligament/tendon injury grading accuracy.

## Abstract

To evaluate the image quality and diagnostic efficacy of proton density-weighted MRI with intelligent quick magnetic resonance (iQMR) technology in the ankle joint injury.

Forty-six patients with ankle injuries were prospectively enrolled, and proton density-weighted fat suppression imaging was performed on a 3.0T MRI scanner using both an iQMR protocol (48.28 s) and a Conventional protocol (113.00 s), respectively. The original image was processed using iQMR to improve spatial resolution and reduce noise interference. Thus, four sets of images (iQMR raw, iQMR-processed, Conventional raw, and Conventional-processed) were generated. Image quality and diagnostic efficacy were assessed by objective metrics (signal-to-noise ratio, SNR and contrast-to-noise ratio, CNR), subjective scores (tissue edge clarity/sharpness, signal uniformity, fat suppression uniformity, vascular pulsation artifacts, and overall image quality), and ligaments/tendons injury grade.

The SNRs (tibia, talus, etc.) and CNRs (talus-flexor hallucis longus, etc.) of iQMR-processed images were significantly higher than those of Conventional raw images (P < 0.05), except for the SNR of Achilles tendon (P > 0.05). And the iQMR-processed images were superior to the Conventional raw images in the scores of edge clarity/sharpness, signal uniformity and overall image quality (P < 0.05), with no significant differences in fat suppression uniformity and vascular pulsation artifacts (P > 0.05). There was no significant difference among the four groups of images in ligaments/tendons injury grading (P > 0.05), but the iQMR-processed images improved diagnostic confidence [κ (kappa) = 0.919].

The iQMR technology can effectively shorten the scan time, improve the image quality without affecting the diagnostic accuracy, which is especially suitable for the motion artifacts-sensitive patients and optimizes clinical workflow.