Interleaved single magnetic resonance sequence for MR quantification

摘要

A magnetic resonance sequence includes an interleaved slice-selective pre-pulse and a slice-selective multi-echo acquisition. This sequence is repeated with different delays between the pre-pulse and the acquisition resulting in a matrix of complex images. Based on this matrix T1 and T2 relaxations, proton density and the B1 field can be estimated. These quantified parameters enable synthetic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and form a robust input for tissue segmentation in computer aided diagnosis for MRI.

主权项

1. A method of processing a set of a number of x magnetic resonance (MR) slices, into a displayable form comprising:
in a pre-pulse-only stage, using only one slice-selective pre-pulse, wherein the one slice-selective pre-pulse in the pre-pulse-only stage is used in order to saturate or invert a spin magnetization of a single first slice n within the set of the number of x MR slices; and in an acquisition stage, using a slice-selective, multi-echo acquisition of a second slice m within the set of the number of x MR slices, the single second slice m being different from the single first slice n; wherein each of the pre-pulse-only and acquisition stages are interleaved, in a computer as part of an MR sequence, wherein n and m are integers in a range of 1 . . . x, and the MR sequence is repeated, in order to account for the set number of the x MR slices, whereby a delay between the pre-pulse only processing stage and the acquisition stage of each particular slice is varied and an echo time of each particular slice is varied, resulting in a plurality of displayable MR images with different respective image contrasts, varying echo times, and varying delays from the processed set number of x MR slices.