METHODS AND DEVICES FOR OPTIMIZATION OF MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING PROTOCOLS

摘要

MRI techniques are widely and successfully applied in medicine and biophysics because MRI provides good contrast between different soft tissues without ionizing radiation. MRI protocols are optimized in four aspects: imaging parameters, k-space strategies, RF system calibration and contrast inhomogeneity correction. The signal intensities of normal and disease tissues are simulated, for example, using Bloch equations for an imaging sequence with tissue MR parameters. The relationships between imaging parameters and tissue contrasts are calculated using the numerically simulated signal intensities. The optimal imaging parameters and/or k-space strategies are determined to maximize image contrast and minimize artifacts with acceptable spatial-temporal resolution based on characterization of the imaging hardware. The RF system is optionally calibrated to improve the accuracy of the imaging parameters and reduce inter-scanner variability. Additionally, contrast-to-noise inhomogeneity caused by transmit field and receive sensitivity is optionally corrected by optimal flip angle and measured receiver sensitivity.

主权项

1. A method for optimizing k-space strategies for MR acquisition, comprising:
setting independent image parameters, wherein the independent image parameters are independent of a k-space strategy in an imaging sequence; simulating a relationship between each respective k-space acquisition and at least one image quality metric that includes a contrast metric; optimizing the k-space strategy to maximize the image quality metric and minimize an image artifact; and acquiring at least one MR image using the optimized k-space strategy.