Comparison of deep learning-based reconstruction of PROPELLER Shoulder MRI with conventional reconstruction

Objective To compare the image quality and agreement among conventional and accelerated periodically rotated overlapping parallel lines with enhanced reconstruction (PROPELLER) MRI with both conventional reconstruction (CR) and deep learning–based reconstruction (DLR) methods for evaluation of shoulder. Materials and methods We included patients who underwent conventional (acquisition time, 8 min) and accelerated (acquisition time, 4 min and 24 s; 45% reduction) PROPELLER shoulder MRI using both CR and DLR methods between February 2021 and February 2022 on a 3 T MRI system. Quantitative evaluation was performed by calculating the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Two musculoskeletal radiologists compared the image quality using conventional sequence with CR as the reference standard. Interobserver agreement between image sets for evaluating shoulder was analyzed using weighted/unweighted kappa statistics. Results Ninety-two patients with 100 shoulder MRI scans were included. Conventional sequence with DLR had the highest SNR ( P < .001), followed by accelerated sequence with DLR, conventional sequence with CR, and accelerated sequence with CR. Comparison of image quality by both readers revealed that conventional sequence with DLR ( P = .003 and P < .001) and accelerated sequence with DLR ( P = .016 and P < .001) had better image quality than the conventional sequence with CR. Interobserver agreement was substantial to almost perfect for detecting shoulder abnormalities (κ = 0.600–0.884). Agreement between the image sets was substantial to almost perfect (κ = 0.691–1). Conclusion Accelerated PROPELLER with DLR showed even better image quality than conventional PROPELLER with CR and interobserver agreement for shoulder pathologies comparable to that of conventional PROPELLER with CR, despite the shorter scan time.