Image reconstruction in SNR units: a general method for SNR measurement.

The method for phased array image reconstruction of uniform noise images may be used in conjunction with proper image scaling as a means of reconstructing images directly in SNR units. This facilitates accurate and precise SNR measurement on a per pixel basis. This method is applicable to root-sum-of-squares magnitude combining, B(1)-weighted combining, and parallel imaging such as SENSE. A procedure for image reconstruction and scaling is presented, and the method for SNR measurement is validated with phantom data. Alternative methods that rely on noise only regions are not appropriate for parallel imaging where the noise level is highly variable across the field-of-view. The purpose of this article is to provide a nuts and bolts procedure for calculating scale factors used for reconstructing images directly in SNR units. The procedure includes scaling for noise equivalent bandwidth of digital receivers, FFTs and associated window functions (raw data filters), and array combining.     

Reproducibility of rapid short echo time CSI at 3 tesla for clinical applications

Purpose:

To validate the reproducibility of a chemical shift imaging (CSI) acquisition protocol with parallel imaging, using automated repositioning software.

Materials and Methods:

Ten volunteers were imaged three times on two different 3 Tesla (T) MRI scanners, receiving anatomical imaging and two identical CSI measurements, using automated repositioning software for consistent repositioning of the CSI grid. Offcenter parameters of the CSI plane were analyzed. Coefficients of variation (CoV), Cramér‐Rao lower bounds (CRLB), intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC), and coefficients of repeatability (CoR) for immediate repetition and between scanners were calculated for N‐acetylaspartate, total choline, creatine, myo‐inositol (Myo) and glutamine+glutamate (Glx). Proportions of variance reflecting the effect of voxel location, volunteer, repetition, time instance and scanner were calculated from an analysis of variance analysis.

Results:

The offcenter vector and angulations of the CSI grid differed less than 1 mm and 2° between all measurements. The mean CoV and CRLB were less than 30% for all metabolites, except for Myo. The variance due to voxel location in the volume of interest and the error represent the largest contributions in variability. The ICC is the lowest for Myo and Glx. CoR for immediate repetition and between scanners display values between 22 and 83%.

Conclusion:

We propose a CSI protocol with acceptable reproducibility, applicable in clinical routine. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2013;37:445–456. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

非笛卡尔并行磁共振成像数据的自适应约束重建新算法

多通道欠采样非笛卡尔轨迹数据重建是当前磁共振成像的研究热点,当欠采样因子比较大时,病态问题往往使得敏感度编码(SENSE)方法重建图像信噪比严重降低,传统的解决方法是在重建方程中引入Tikhonov约束或TV约束。提出自适应约束的SENSE重建算法,由先验图像的梯度特征并借鉴PM模型的思想决定惩罚函数,在梯度幅值较大的区域使用各向异性扩散的TV约束方式,在梯度幅值较小的区域使用各向同性扩散的Tikhonov约束方式。进行8通道2.6倍欠采样可变密度螺旋轨迹人体动静脉畸形瘤动脉注射X线的仿真实验。结果表明,与平方和(SOS)重建方法、传统无约束SENSE重建方法以及TV约束SENSE重建方法相比,本算法可以有效抑制部分数据成像带来的噪声和伪影,并能较好保护图像细节尤其是小细节信息,成像效果优于传统方法。     

Accelerated time-resolved three-dimensional MR velocity mapping of blood flow patterns in the aorta using SENSE and k-t BLAST

Purpose

To assess the feasibility and potential limitations of the acceleration techniques SENSE and k-t BLAST for time-resolved three-dimensional (3D) velocity mapping of aortic blood flow. Furthermore, to quantify differences in peak velocity versus heart phase curves.

Materials and methods

Time-resolved 3D blood flow patterns were investigated in eleven volunteers and two patients suffering from aortic diseases with accelerated PC-MR sequences either in combination with SENSE (R = 2) or k-t BLAST (6-fold). Both sequences showed similar data acquisition times and hence acceleration efficiency. Flow-field streamlines were calculated and visualized using the GTFlow software tool in order to reconstruct 3D aortic blood flow patterns. Differences between the peak velocities from single-slice PC-MRI experiments using SENSE 2 and k-t BLAST 6 were calculated for the whole cardiac cycle and averaged for all volunteers.

Results

Reconstruction of 3D flow patterns in volunteers revealed attenuations in blood flow dynamics for k-t BLAST 6 compared to SENSE 2 in terms of 3D streamlines showing fewer and less distinct vortices and reduction in peak velocity, which is caused by temporal blurring. Solely by time-resolved 3D MR velocity mapping in combination with SENSE detected pathologic blood flow patterns in patients with aortic diseases. For volunteers, we found a broadening and flattering of the peak velocity versus heart phase diagram between the two acceleration techniques, which is an evidence for the temporal blurring of the k-t BLAST approach.

Conclusion

We demonstrated the feasibility of SENSE and detected potential limitations of k-t BLAST when used for time-resolved 3D velocity mapping. The effects of higher k-t BLAST acceleration factors have to be considered for application in 3D velocity mapping.     

3D undersampled golden‐radial phase encoding for DCE‐MRA using inherently regularized iterative SENSE

One of the current limitations of dynamic contrast‐enhanced MR angiography is the requirement of both high spatial and high temporal resolution. Several undersampling techniques have been proposed to overcome this problem. However, in most of these methods the tradeoff between spatial and temporal resolution is constant for all the time frames and needs to be specified prior to data collection. This is not optimal for dynamic contrast‐enhanced MR angiography where the dynamics of the process are difficult to predict and the image quality requirements are changing during the bolus passage. Here, we propose a new highly undersampled approach that allows the retrospective adaptation of the spatial and temporal resolution. The method combines a three‐dimensional radial phase encoding trajectory with the golden angle profile order and non‐Cartesian Sensitivity Encoding (SENSE) reconstruction. Different regularization images, obtained from the same acquired data, are used to stabilize the non‐Cartesian SENSE reconstruction for the different phases of the bolus passage. The feasibility of the proposed method was demonstrated on a numerical phantom and in three‐dimensional intracranial dynamic contrast‐enhanced MR angiography of healthy volunteers. The acquired data were reconstructed retrospectively with temporal resolutions from 1.2 sec to 8.1 sec, providing a good depiction of small vessels, as well as distinction of different temporal phases. Magn Reson Med, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.