Mathematical model for histogram analysis of dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI: A method to evaluate the drug treatment response in rheumatoid arthritis

Purpose To evaluate the effectiveness of a mathematical model for histogram analysis of DCE-MRI in distinguishing responders from non-responders during RA drug treatment. Method Twenty-three consecutive RA patients with clinically active inflammation prospectively underwent DCE-MRI at baseline and after treatment. Manual segmentation of the enhanced synovium was performed on the last phase of DCE-MRI. The voxel-based contrast enhancement was...