To evaluate the potential of molecular amide proton transfer (APT) MRI for predicting the risk group of abdominal tumors in children, and compare it with quantitative T1 and T2 mapping.


 APT MRI is a potential imaging biomarker for stratifying the risk group of pediatric neuroblastoma in the abdomen preoperatively and provides added value to structural MRI.



MRI
APT-weighted (APTw) imaging and quantitative relaxation time mapping sequences were executed for each subject. 
quantitative relaxation time mapping sequences
The region of interest (ROI) was generated with automatic artifact detection and ROI-shrinking algorithms, within which the APTw, T1, and T2 indices were calculated and compared between different risk groups. 
automatic artifact detection and ROI-shrinking algorithms
The prediction performance of different imaging parameters was assessed with the receiver operating characteristics (ROC) analysis and Student's t-test.



receiver operating characteristics (ROC) analysis
The prediction performance of different imaging parameters was assessed with the receiver operating characteristics (ROC) analysis and Student's t-test.



Student's t-test