An optimal radial profile order based on the Golden Ratio for time-resolved MRI

GOCART: GOlden-angle CArtesian randomized time-resolved 3D MRI

PURPOSE

To develop and evaluate a novel 3D Cartesian sampling scheme which is well suited for time-resolved 3D MRI using parallel imaging and compressed sensing.

METHODS

The proposed sampling scheme, termed GOlden-angle CArtesian Randomized Time-resolved (GOCART) 3D MRI, is based on golden angle (GA) Cartesian sampling, with random sampling of the ky-kz phase encode locations along each Cartesian radial spoke. This method was evaluated in conjunction with constrained reconstruction of retrospectively and prospectively undersampled in-vivo dynamic contrast enhanced (DCE) MRI data and simulated phantom data.

RESULTS

In in-vivo retrospective studies and phantom simulations, images reconstructed from phase encodes defined by GOCART were equal to or superior to those with Poisson disc or GA sampling schemes. Typical GOCART sampling tables were generated in <100ms. GOCART has also been successfully utilized prospectively to produce clinically valuable whole-brain DCE-MRI images.

CONCLUSION

GOCART is a practical and efficient sampling scheme for time-resolved 3D MRI. It shows great potential for highly accelerated DCE-MRI and is well suited to modern reconstruction methods such as parallel imaging and compressed sensing.

Comprehensive motion-compensated highly accelerated 4D flow MRI with ferumoxytol enhancement for pediatric congenital heart disease

PURPOSE

To develop and evaluate motion-compensation and compressed-sensing techniques in 4D flow MRI for anatomical assessment in a comprehensive ferumoxytol-enhanced congenital heart disease (CHD) exam.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A Cartesian 4D flow sequence was developed to enable intrinsic navigation and two variable-density sampling schemes: VDPoisson and VDRad. Four compressed-sensing methods were developed: A) VDPoisson scan reconstructed using spatial wavelets; B) added temporal total variation to A; C) VDRad scan using the same reconstruction as in B; and D) added motion compensation to C. With Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliance, 23 consecutive patients (eight females, mean 6.3 years) referred for ferumoxytol-enhanced CHD 3T MRI were recruited. Images were acquired and reconstructed using methods A-D. Two cardiovascular radiologists independently scored the images on a 5-point scale. These readers performed a paired wall motion and functional assessment between method D and 2D balanced steady-state free precession (bSSFP) CINE for 16 cases.

RESULTS

Method D had higher diagnostic image quality for most anatomical features (mean 3.8-4.8) compared to A (2.0-3.6), B (2.2-3.7), and C (2.9-3.9) with P < 0.05 with good interobserver agreement (κ ≥ 0.49). Method D had similar or better assessment of myocardial borders and cardiac motion compared to 2D bSSFP (P < 0.05, κ ≥ 0.77). All methods had good internal agreement in comparing aortic with pulmonic flow (BA mean < 0.02%, r > 0.85) and compared to method A (BA mean < 0.13%, r > 0.84) with P < 0.01.

CONCLUSION

Flow, functional, and anatomical assessment in CHD with ferumoxytol-enhanced 4D flow is feasible and can be significantly improved using motion compensation and compressed sensing. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2016;43:1355-1368.

Is High Temporal Resolution Achievable for Paediatric Cardiac Acquisitions during Several Heart Beats? Illustration with Cardiac Phase Contrast Cine-MRI

Background

During paediatric cardiac Cine-MRI, data acquired during cycles of different lengths must be combined. Most of the time, Feinstein’s model is used to project multiple cardiac cycles of variable lengths into a mean cycle.

Objective

To assess the effect of Feinstein projection on temporal resolution of Cine-MRI.

Methods

1/The temporal errors during Feinstein’s projection were computed in 306 cardiac cycles fully characterized by tissue Doppler imaging with 6-phase analysis (from a population of 7 children and young adults). 2/The effects of these temporal errors on tissue velocities were assessed by simulating typical tissue phase mapping acquisitions and reconstructions. 3/Myocardial velocities curves, extracted from high-resolution phase-contrast cine images, were compared for the 6 volunteers with lowest and highest heart rate variability, within a population of 36 young adults.

Results

1/The mean of temporal misalignments was 30 ms over the cardiac cycle but reached 60 ms during early diastole. 2/During phase contrast MRI simulation, early diastole velocity peaks were diminished by 6.1 cm/s leading to virtual disappearance of isovolumic relaxation peaks. 3/The smoothing and erasing of isovolumic relaxation peaks was confirmed on tissue phase mapping velocity curves, between subjects with low and high heart rate variability (p = 0.05).

Conclusions

Feinstein cardiac model creates temporal misalignments that impair high temporal resolution phase contrast cine imaging when beat-to-beat heart rate is changing.

Breath-hold imaging of the coronary arteries using Quiescent-Interval Slice-Selective (QISS) magnetic resonance angiography: pilot study at 1.5 Tesla and 3 Tesla

BACKGROUND

Coronary magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) is usually obtained with a free-breathing navigator-gated 3D acquisition. Our aim was to develop an alternative breath-hold approach that would allow the coronary arteries to be evaluated in a much shorter time and without risk of degradation by respiratory motion artifacts. For this purpose, we implemented a breath-hold, non-contrast-enhanced, quiescent-interval slice-selective (QISS) 2D technique. Sequence performance was compared at 1.5 and 3 Tesla using both radial and Cartesian k-space trajectories.

METHODS

The left coronary circulation was imaged in six healthy subjects and two patients with coronary artery disease. Breath-hold QISS was compared with T2-prepared 2D balanced steady-state free-precession (bSSFP) and free-breathing, navigator-gated 3D bSSFP.

RESULTS

Approximately 10 2.1-mm thick slices were acquired in a single ~20-s breath-hold using two-shot QISS. QISS contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) was 1.5-fold higher at 3 Tesla than at 1.5 Tesla. Cartesian QISS provided the best coronary-to-myocardium CNR, whereas radial QISS provided the sharpest coronary images. QISS image quality exceeded that of free-breathing 3D coronary MRA with few artifacts at either field strength. Compared with T2-prepared 2D bSSFP, multi-slice capability was not restricted by the specific absorption rate at 3 Tesla and pericardial fluid signal was better suppressed. In addition to depicting the coronary arteries, QISS could image intra-cardiac structures, pericardium, and the aortic root in arbitrary slice orientations.

CONCLUSIONS

Breath-hold QISS is a simple, versatile, and time-efficient method for coronary MRA that provides excellent image quality at both 1.5 and 3 Tesla. Image quality exceeded that of free-breathing, navigator-gated 3D MRA in a much shorter scan time. QISS also allowed rapid multi-slice bright-blood, diastolic phase imaging of the heart, which may have complementary value to multi-phase cine imaging. We conclude that, with further clinical validation, QISS might provide an efficient alternative to commonly used free-breathing coronary MRA techniques.

Compressed sensing reconstruction of cardiac cine MRI using golden angle spiral trajectories

In dynamic cardiac cine Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), the spatiotemporal resolution is limited by the low imaging speed. Compressed sensing (CS) theory has been applied to improve the imaging speed and thus the spatiotemporal resolution. The purpose of this paper is to improve CS reconstruction of under sampled data by exploiting spatiotemporal sparsity and efficient spiral trajectories. We extend k-t sparse algorithm to spiral trajectories to achieve high spatio temporal resolutions in cardiac cine imaging. We have exploited spatiotemporal sparsity of cardiac cine MRI by applying a 2D+time wavelet-Fourier transform. For efficient coverage of k-space, we have used a modified version of multi shot (interleaved) spirals trajectories. In order to reduce incoherent aliasing artifact, we use different random undersampling pattern for each temporal frame. Finally, we have used nonuniform fast Fourier transform (NUFFT) algorithm to reconstruct the image from the non-uniformly acquired samples. The proposed approach was tested in simulated and cardiac cine MRI data. Results show that higher acceleration factors with improved image quality can be obtained with the proposed approach in comparison to the existing state-of-the-art method. The flexibility of the introduced method should allow it to be used not only for the challenging case of cardiac imaging, but also for other patient motion where the patient moves or breathes during acquisition.

Cardiac functional assessment without electrocardiogram using physiological self-navigation

PURPOSE

Electrocardiogram (ECG)-gated cine MRI provides highly accurate functional assessment of the heart. Nevertheless, reliable ECG signals are not always available due to patient's electrophysiology or due to high MR field strengths. Here, a novel framework for cardiac functional assessment using physiological information is presented, which is obtained from MR image data.

METHODS

Multiple long-axis slices rotated around the center axis of the left ventricle are acquired using a 2D Golden Radial acquisition scheme. This sampling approach allows for both real-time data and retrospectively reordered cine images with different temporal resolutions. Functional information from the left ventricle is used for retrospective reordering of the data to reconstruct cine images without an external ECG signal. Afterward, individual 2D cine slices are synchronized using physiological information on the mitral valve closure. The proposed approach was assessed in 15 volunteers and applied in four patients for feasibility.

RESULTS

Physiological gating signals obtained with our approach show great correlation with an ECG reference signal. Functional parameters determined with the presented method show a relative difference of less than 1.3% when compared with an ECG-gated approach.

CONCLUSION

It is successfully demonstrated that functional assessment of the heart is possible using physiological information obtained directly from MR image data.

Reducing acquisition time in clinical MRI by data undersampling and compressed sensing reconstruction

MRI is often the most sensitive or appropriate technique for important measurements in clinical diagnosis and research, but lengthy acquisition times limit its use due to cost and considerations of patient comfort and compliance. Once an image field of view and resolution is chosen, the minimum scan acquisition time is normally fixed by the amount of raw data that must be acquired to meet the Nyquist criteria. Recently, there has been research interest in using the theory of compressed sensing (CS) in MR imaging to reduce scan acquisition times. The theory argues that if our target MR image is sparse, having signal information in only a small proportion of pixels (like an angiogram), or if the image can be mathematically transformed to be sparse then it is possible to use that sparsity to recover a high definition image from substantially less acquired data. This review starts by considering methods of k-space undersampling which have already been incorporated into routine clinical imaging (partial Fourier imaging and parallel imaging), and then explains the basis of using compressed sensing in MRI. The practical considerations of applying CS to MRI acquisitions are discussed, such as designing k-space undersampling schemes, optimizing adjustable parameters in reconstructions and exploiting the power of combined compressed sensing and parallel imaging (CS-PI). A selection of clinical applications that have used CS and CS-PI prospectively are considered. The review concludes by signposting other imaging acceleration techniques under present development before concluding with a consideration of the potential impact and obstacles to bringing compressed sensing into routine use in clinical MRI.

A model-based reconstruction technique for quantitative myocardial perfusion imaging

PURPOSE

To reduce saturation effects in the arterial input function (AIF) estimation of quantitative myocardial first-pass saturation recovery perfusion imaging by employing a model-based reconstruction.

THEORY AND METHODS

Imaging was performed with a saturation recovery prepared radial FLASH sequence. A model-based reconstruction was applied for reconstruction. By exploiting prior knowledge about the relaxation process, an image series with different saturation recovery times was reconstructed. By evaluating images with an effective saturation time of approximately 3 ms, saturation effects in the AIF determination were reduced. In a volunteer study, this approach was compared with a standard prebolus technique.

RESULTS

In comparison to the low-dose injection of a prebolus acquisition, saturation effects were further reduced in the AIFs determined using the model-based approach. These effects, which were clearly visible for all six volunteers, were reflected in a statistically significant difference of up to 20% in the absolute perfusion values.

CONCLUSION

The application of model-based reconstruction algorithms in quantitative myocardial perfusion imaging promises a significant improvement of the AIF determination. In addition to greatly reducing saturation effects that occur even for the prebolus methods, only a single bolus has to be applied. Magn Reson Med 76:880-887, 2016. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Anisotropic field-of-view support for golden angle radial imaging

PURPOSE

To provide anisotropic field-of-view (FOV) support for golden angle radial imaging.

THEORY AND METHODS

In radial imaging, uniform spoke density leads to a circular FOV, which is excessive for objects with anisotropic dimensions. Larson et al previously showed that the angular k-space spoke density can be determined by the desired anisotropic FOV. We show that conventional golden angle sampling can be deployed in an angle-normalized space and transformed back to k-space such that the desired nonuniform spoke density is preserved for arbitrary temporal window length. Elliptical FOVs were used to illustrate this generalized mapping approach. Point-spread-function and spoke density analysis was performed. Phantom and in vivo cardiac images were acquired.

RESULTS

Simulations, phantom, and in vivo experiments confirmed that the proposed method is able to achieve anisotropic FOV while still maintaining the benefits of golden angle sampling. This approach requires 50% less spokes for elliptical FOV with major-to-minor-axis ratio of 1:0.3, when compared with isotropic FOV with the same undersampling factor.

CONCLUSION

We demonstrate a simple method for applying golden angle view ordering to anisotropic FOV radial imaging. This can reduce imaging time for objects with anisotropic dimensions while still allowing arbitrary temporal window selection. Magn Reson Med 76:229-236, 2016. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Segmented golden ratio radial reordering with variable temporal resolution for dynamic cardiac MRI

PURPOSE

Golden ratio (GR) radial reordering allows for retrospective choice of temporal resolution by providing a near-uniform k-space sampling within any reconstruction window. However, when applying GR to electrocardiogram (ECG)-gated cardiac imaging, the k-space coverage may not be as uniform because a single reconstruction window is broken into several temporally isolated ones. The goal of this study was to investigate the image artifacts caused by applying GR to ECG-gated cardiac imaging and to propose a segmented GR method to address this issue.

METHODS

Computer simulation and phantom experiments were used to evaluate the image artifacts resulting from three k-space sampling patterns (ie, uniform radial, conventional GR, and segmented GR). Two- and three-dimensional cardiac cine images were acquired in seven healthy subjects. Imaging artifacts due to k-space sampling nonuniformity were graded on a 5-point scale by an experienced cardiac imaging reader.

RESULTS

Segmented GR provides more uniform k-space sampling that is independent of heart-rate variation than conventional GR. Cardiac cine images using segmented GR have significantly higher and more reliable image quality than conventional GR.

CONCLUSION

Segmented GR successfully addresses the nonuniform sampling that occurs with combining conventional GR with ECG gating. This technique can potentially be applied to any ECG-gated cardiac imaging application to allow for retrospective selection of a reconstruction window. Magn Reson Med 76:94-103, 2016. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Trajectory optimization based on the signal-to-noise ratio for spatial encoding with nonlinear encoding fields

PURPOSE

Multiple nonlinear gradient fields offer many potential benefits for spatial encoding including reduced acquisition time, fewer artefacts and region-specific imaging, although designing a suitable trajectory for such a setup is difficult. This work aims to optimize encoding trajectories for multiple nonlinear gradient fields based on the image signal-to-noise ratio.

THEORY AND METHODS

Image signal-to-noise ratio is directly linked to the covariance of the reconstructed pixels, which can be calculated recursively for each projection of the trajectory under a Bayesian formulation. An evolutionary algorithm is used to find the higher-dimensional projections that minimize the pixel covariance, incorporating receive coil profiles, intravoxel dephasing, and reconstruction regularization. The resulting trajectories are tested through simulations and experiments.

RESULTS

The optimized trajectories produce images with higher resolution and fewer artefacts compared with traditional approaches, particularly for high undersampling. However, higher-dimensional projection experiments strongly depend on accurate hardware and calibration.

CONCLUSION

Computer-based optimization provides an efficient means to explore the large trajectory space created by the use of multiple nonlinear encoding fields. The optimization framework, as presented here, is necessary to fully exploit the advantages of nonlinear fields. Magn Reson Med 76:104-117, 2016. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Whole-body continuously moving table fat-water MRI with dynamic B0 shimming at 3 Tesla

PURPOSE

The purpose of this work was to develop a rapid and robust whole-body fat-water MRI (FWMRI) method using a continuously moving table (CMT) with dynamic field corrections at 3 Tesla.

METHODS

CMT FWMRI was developed at 3 Tesla with a multiecho golden angle (GA) radial trajectory and dynamic B0 field shimming. Whole-body imaging was performed with 4 echoes and superior-inferior coverage of 1.8 meters without shims in 90 s. 716 axial images were reconstructed with GA profile binning followed by B0 field map generation using fast three-point seeded region growing fat-water separation and slice-specific 0(th) and 1(st) order shim calculation. Slice-specific shims were applied dynamically in a repeated CMT FWMRI scan in the same session. The resulting images were evaluated for field homogeneity improvements and quality of fat-water separation with a whole-image energy optimized algorithm.

RESULTS

GA sampling allowed high quality whole-body FWMRI from multiecho CMT data. Dynamic B0 shimming greatly improved field homogeneity in the body and produced high quality water and fat only images as well as fat signal fraction and R2 * relaxivity maps.

CONCLUSION

A rapid and robust technique for whole-body fat-water quantification has been developed with CMT MRI with dynamic B0 field correction. Magn Reson Med 76:183-190, 2016. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Spoiling without additional gradients: Radial FLASH MRI with randomized radiofrequency phases

PURPOSE

To develop a method for spoiling transverse magnetizations without additional gradients to minimize repetition times for radial fast low angle shot (FLASH) MRI.

METHODS

Residual steady state transverse magnetizations and corresponding image artifacts were analyzed for radial gradient echo sequences with constant and randomized RF phases in comparison with a sequence with refocused frequency-encoding gradients, constant spoiler gradient, and conventional RF spoiling (gold standard). The spoiling performance was assessed for different radial trajectories using numerical simulations, phantom experiments, and in vivo MRI studies of the human brain.

RESULTS

Simulations as well as phantom and in vivo measurements reveal a highly efficient spoiling capacity for randomized RF phases and radial FLASH sequences without the need for gradient rewinding and spoiler gradients. The data also demonstrate a strong dependence of the spoiling performance on the chosen radial trajectory (ie, the azimuthal angular increment between successive projections) with excellent results for an interleaved multiturn scheme.

CONCLUSION

Effective spoiling of transverse magnetizations in radial FLASH MRI may be achieved by randomized RF phases without additional spoiler gradients. The technique allows for short repetition times as required for high-speed real-time MRI.

Free-Breathing 3D Imaging of Right Ventricular Structure and Function Using Respiratory and Cardiac Self-Gated Cine MRI

Providing a movie of the beating heart in a single prescribed plane, cine MRI has been widely used in clinical cardiac diagnosis, especially in the left ventricle (LV). Right ventricular (RV) morphology and function are also important for the diagnosis of cardiopulmonary diseases and serve as predictors for the long term outcome. The purpose of this study is to develop a self-gated free-breathing 3D imaging method for RV quantification and to evaluate its performance by comparing it with breath-hold 2D cine imaging in 7 healthy volunteers. Compared with 2D, the 3D RV functional measurements show a reduction of RV end-diastole volume (RVEDV) by 10%, increase of RV end-systole volume (RVESV) by 1.8%, reduction of RV systole volume (RVSV) by 21%, and reduction of RV ejection fraction (RVEF) by 12%. High correlations between the two techniques were found (RVEDV: 0.94; RVESV: 0.85; RVSV: 0.95; and RVEF: 0.89). Compared with 2D, the 3D image quality measurements show a small reduction in blood SNR, myocardium-blood CNR, myocardium contrast, and image sharpness. In conclusion, the proposed self-gated free-breathing 3D cardiac cine imaging technique provides comparable image quality and correlated functional measurements to those acquired with the multiple breath-hold 2D technique in RV.

Influence of temporal regularization and radial undersampling factor on compressed sensing reconstruction in dynamic contrast enhanced MRI of the breast

BACKGROUND

To evaluate the influence of temporal sparsity regularization and radial undersampling on compressed sensing reconstruction of dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) MRI, using the iterative Golden-angle RAdial Sparse Parallel (iGRASP) MRI technique in the setting of breast cancer evaluation.

METHODS

DCE-MRI examinations of the breast (n = 7) were conducted using iGRASP at 3 Tesla. Images were reconstructed with five different radial undersampling schemes corresponding to temporal resolutions between 2 and 13.4 s/frame and with four different weights for temporal sparsity regularization (λ = 0.1, 0.5, 2, and 6 times of noise level). Image similarity to time-averaged reference images was assessed by two breast radiologists and using quantitative metrics. Temporal similarity was measured in terms of wash-in slope and contrast kinetic model parameters.

RESULTS

iGRASP images reconstructed with λ = 2 and 5.1 s/frame had significantly (P < 0.05) higher similarity to time-averaged reference images than the images with other reconstruction parameters (mutual information (MI) >5%), in agreement with the assessment of two breast radiologists. Higher undersampling (temporal resolution < 5.1 s/frame) required stronger temporal sparsity regularization (λ ≥ 2) to remove streaking aliasing artifacts (MI > 23% between λ = 2 and 0.5). The difference between the kinetic-model transfer rates of benign and malignant groups decreased as temporal resolution decreased (82% between 2 and 13.4 s/frame).

CONCLUSION

This study demonstrates objective spatial and temporal similarity measures can be used to assess the influence of sparsity constraint and undersampling in compressed sensing DCE-MRI and also shows that the iGRASP method provides the flexibility of optimizing these reconstruction parameters in the postprocessing stage using the same acquired data.

A Small Surrogate for the Golden Angle in Time-Resolved Radial MRI Based on Generalized Fibonacci Sequences

In golden angle radial magnetic resonance imaging a constant azimuthal radial profile spacing of 111.246...(°) guarantees a nearly uniform azimuthal profile distribution in k-space for an arbitrary number of radial profiles. Even though this profile order is advantageous for various real-time imaging methods, in combination with balanced steady-state free precession (SSFP) sequences the large azimuthal angle increment may lead to strong image artifacts, due to the varying eddy currents introduced by the rapidly switching gradient scheme. Based on a generalized Fibonacci sequence, a new sequence of smaller irrational angles is introduced ( 49.750...(°), 32.039...(°), 27.198...(°), 23.628...(°), ... ). The subsequent profile orders guarantee the same sampling efficiency as the golden angle if at least a minimum number of radial profiles is used for reconstruction. The suggested angular increments are applied for dynamic imaging of the heart and the temporomandibular joint. It is shown that for balanced SSFP sequences, trajectories using the smaller golden angle surrogates strongly reduce the image artifacts, while the free retrospective choice of the reconstruction window width is maintained.

Recent advances in 3D time-resolved contrast-enhanced MR angiography

Contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance angiography (CE-MRA) was first introduced for clinical studies approximately 20 years ago. Early work provided 3-4 mm spatial resolution with acquisition times in the 30-second range. Since that time there has been continuing effort to provide improved spatial resolution with reduced acquisition time, allowing high resolution 3D time-resolved studies. The purpose of this work is to describe how this has been accomplished. Specific technical enablers have been: improved gradients allowing reduced repetition times, improved k-space sampling and reconstruction methods, parallel acquisition, particularly in two directions, and improved and higher count receiver coil arrays. These have collectively made high-resolution time-resolved studies readily available for many anatomic regions. Depending on the application, ∼1 mm isotropic resolution is now possible with frame times of several seconds. Clinical applications of time-resolved CE-MRA are briefly reviewed.

User-initialized active contour segmentation and golden-angle real-time cardiovascular magnetic resonance enable accurate assessment of LV function in patients with sinus rhythm and arrhythmias

BACKGROUND

Data obtained during arrhythmia is retained in real-time cardiovascular magnetic resonance (rt-CMR), but there is limited and inconsistent evidence to show that rt-CMR can accurately assess beat-to-beat variation in left ventricular (LV) function or during an arrhythmia.

METHODS

Multi-slice, short axis cine and real-time golden-angle radial CMR data was collected in 22 clinical patients (18 in sinus rhythm and 4 patients with arrhythmia). A user-initialized active contour segmentation (ACS) software was validated via comparison to manual segmentation on clinically accepted software. For each image in the 2D acquisitions, slice volume was calculated and global LV volumes were estimated via summation across the LV using multiple slices. Real-time imaging data was reconstructed using different image exposure times and frame rates to evaluate the effect of temporal resolution on measured function in each slice via ACS. Finally, global volumetric function of ectopic and non-ectopic beats was measured using ACS in patients with arrhythmias.

RESULTS

ACS provides global LV volume measurements that are not significantly different from manual quantification of retrospectively gated cine images in sinus rhythm patients. With an exposure time of 95.2 ms and a frame rate of > 89 frames per second, golden-angle real-time imaging accurately captures hemodynamic function over a range of patient heart rates. In four patients with frequent ectopic contractions, initial quantification of the impact of ectopic beats on hemodynamic function was demonstrated.

CONCLUSION

User-initialized active contours and golden-angle real-time radial CMR can be used to determine time-varying LV function in patients. These methods will be very useful for the assessment of LV function in patients with frequent arrhythmias.

Cardiac perfusion imaging using hyperpolarized (13)C urea using flow sensitizing gradients

Purpose

To demonstrate the feasibility of imaging the first passage of a bolus of hyperpolarized ¹³C urea through the rodent heart using flow‐sensitizing gradients to reduce signal from the blood pool.

Methods

A flow‐sensitizing bipolar gradient was optimized to reduce the bright signal within the cardiac chambers, enabling improved contrast of the agent within the tissue capillary bed. The gradient was incorporated into a dynamic golden angle spiral ¹³C imaging sequence. Healthy rats were scanned during rest (n = 3) and under adenosine stress‐induced hyperemia (n = 3).

Results

A two‐fold increase in myocardial perfusion relative to rest was detected during adenosine stress‐induced hyperemia, consistent with a myocardial perfusion reserve of two in rodents.

Conclusion

The new pulse sequence was used to obtain dynamic images of the first passage of hyperpolarized ¹³C urea in the rodent heart, without contamination from bright signal within the neighboring cardiac lumen. This probe of myocardial perfusion is expected to enable new hyperpolarized ¹³C studies in which the cardiac metabolism/perfusion mismatch can be identified. Magn Reson Med, 2015. © 2015 The Authors. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Magn Reson Med 75:1474–1483, 2016. © 2015 The Authors. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of International Society for Magnetic Resonance.

Four-dimensional MRI using three-dimensional radial sampling with respiratory self-gating to characterize temporal phase-resolved respiratory motion in the abdomen

PURPOSE

To develop a four-dimensional MRI (4D-MRI) technique to characterize the average respiratory tumor motion for abdominal radiotherapy planning.

METHODS

A continuous spoiled gradient echo sequence was implemented with 3D radial trajectory and 1D self-gating for respiratory motion detection. Data were retrospectively sorted into different respiratory phases based on their temporal locations within a respiratory cycle, and each phase was reconstructed by means of a self-calibrating CG-SENSE program. Motion phantom, healthy volunteer and patient studies were performed to validate the respiratory motion detected by the proposed method against that from a 2D real-time protocol.

RESULTS

The proposed method successfully visualized the respiratory motion in phantom and human subjects. The 4D-MRI and real-time 2D-MRI yielded comparable superior-inferior (SI) motion amplitudes (intraclass correlation = 0.935) with up-to one pixel mean absolute differences in SI displacements over 10 phases and high cross-correlation between phase-resolved displacements (phantom: 0.985; human: 0.937-0.985). Comparable anterior-posterior and left-right displacements of the tumor or gold fiducial between 4D and real-time 2D-MRI were also observed in the two patients, and the hysteresis effect was shown in their 3D trajectories.

CONCLUSION

We demonstrated the feasibility of the proposed 4D-MRI technique to characterize abdominal respiratory motion, which may provide valuable information for radiotherapy planning.

High-Resolution DCE-MRI of the Pituitary Gland Using Radial k-Space Acquisition with Compressed Sensing Reconstruction

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE

The pituitary gland is located outside of the blood-brain barrier. Dynamic T1 weighted contrast enhanced sequence is considered to be the gold standard to evaluate this region. However, it does not allow assessment of intrinsic permeability properties of the gland. Our aim was to demonstrate the utility of radial volumetric interpolated brain examination with the golden-angle radial sparse parallel technique to evaluate permeability characteristics of the individual components (anterior and posterior gland and the median eminence) of the pituitary gland and areas of differential enhancement and to optimize the study acquisition time.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A retrospective study was performed in 52 patients (group 1, 25 patients with normal pituitary glands; and group 2, 27 patients with a known diagnosis of microadenoma). Radial volumetric interpolated brain examination sequences with golden-angle radial sparse parallel technique were evaluated with an ROI-based method to obtain signal-time curves and permeability measures of individual normal structures within the pituitary gland and areas of differential enhancement. Statistical analyses were performed to assess differences in the permeability parameters of these individual regions and optimize the study acquisition time.

RESULTS

Signal-time curves from the posterior pituitary gland and median eminence demonstrated a faster wash-in and time of maximum enhancement with a lower peak of enhancement compared with the anterior pituitary gland (P < .005). Time-optimization analysis demonstrated that 120 seconds is ideal for dynamic pituitary gland evaluation. In the absence of a clinical history, differences in the signal-time curves allow easy distinction between a simple cyst and a microadenoma.

CONCLUSIONS

This retrospective study confirms the ability of the golden-angle radial sparse parallel technique to evaluate the permeability characteristics of the pituitary gland and establishes 120 seconds as the ideal acquisition time for dynamic pituitary gland imaging.

Articulation and vocal tract acoustics at soprano subject's high fundamental frequencies

The role of the vocal tract for phonation at very high soprano fundamental frequencies (F0s) is not yet understood in detail. In this investigation, two experiments were carried out with a single professional high soprano subject. First, using two dimensional (2D) dynamic real-time magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) (24 fps) midsagittal and coronal vocal tract shapes were analyzed while the subject sang a scale from Bb5 (932 Hz) to G6 (1568 Hz). In a second experiment, volumetric vocal tract MRI data were recorded from sustained phonations (13 s) for the pitches C6 (1047 Hz) and G6 (1568 Hz). Formant frequencies were measured in physical models created by 3D printing, and calculated from area functions obtained from the 3D vocal tract shapes. The data showed that there were only minor modifications of the vocal tract shape. These changes involved a decrease of the piriform sinus as well as small changes of tongue position. Formant frequencies did not exhibit major differences between C6 and G6 for F1 and F3, respectively. Only F2 was slightly raised for G6. For G6, however, F2 is not excited by any voice source partial. Therefore, this investigation was not able to confirm that the analyzed professional soprano subject adjusted formants to voice source partials for the analyzed F0s.

Model-based acceleration of look-locker T1 mapping

Mapping the longitudinal relaxation time T₁ has widespread applications in clinical MRI as it promises a quantitative comparison of tissue properties across subjects and scanners. Due to the long scan times of conventional methods, however, the use of quantitative MRI in clinical routine is still very limited. In this work, an acceleration of Inversion-Recovery Look-Locker (IR-LL) T₁ mapping is presented. A model-based algorithm is used to iteratively enforce an exponential relaxation model to a highly undersampled radially acquired IR-LL dataset obtained after the application of a single global inversion pulse. Using the proposed technique, a T₁ map of a single slice with 1.6mm in-plane resolution and 4mm slice thickness can be reconstructed from data acquired in only 6s. A time-consuming segmented IR experiment was used as gold standard for T₁ mapping in this work. In the subsequent validation study, the model-based reconstruction of a single-inversion IR-LL dataset exhibited a T₁ difference of less than 2.6% compared to the segmented IR-LL reference in a phantom consisting of vials with T₁ values between 200ms and 3000ms. In vivo, the T₁ difference was smaller than 5.5% in WM and GM of seven healthy volunteers. Additionally, the T₁ values are comparable to standard literature values. Despite the high acceleration, all model-based reconstructions were of a visual quality comparable to fully sampled references. Finally, the reproducibility of the T₁ mapping method was demonstrated in repeated acquisitions. In conclusion, the presented approach represents a promising way for fast and accurate T₁ mapping using radial IR-LL acquisitions without the need of any segmentation.

Whole left ventricular functional assessment from two minutes free breathing multi-slice CINE acquisition

Two major challenges in cardiovascular MRI are long scan times due to slow MR acquisition and motion artefacts due to respiratory motion. Recently, a Motion Corrected-Compressed Sensing (MC-CS) technique has been proposed for free breathing 2D dynamic cardiac MRI that addresses these challenges by simultaneously accelerating MR acquisition and correcting for any arbitrary motion in a compressed sensing reconstruction. In this work, the MC-CS framework is combined with parallel imaging for further acceleration, and is termed Motion Corrected Sparse SENSE (MC-SS). Validation of the MC-SS framework is demonstrated in eight volunteers and three patients for left ventricular functional assessment and results are compared with the breath-hold acquisitions as reference. A non-significant difference (P > 0.05) was observed in the volumetric functional measurements (end diastolic volume, end systolic volume, ejection fraction) and myocardial border sharpness values obtained with the proposed and gold standard methods. The proposed method achieves whole heart multi-slice coverage in 2 min under free breathing acquisition eliminating the time needed between breath-holds for instructions and recovery. This results in two-fold speed up of the total acquisition time in comparison to the breath-hold acquisition.

Low-rank plus sparse matrix decomposition for accelerated dynamic MRI with separation of background and dynamic components

PURPOSE

To apply the low-rank plus sparse (L+S) matrix decomposition model to reconstruct undersampled dynamic MRI as a superposition of background and dynamic components in various problems of clinical interest.

THEORY AND METHODS

The L+S model is natural to represent dynamic MRI data. Incoherence between k-t space (acquisition) and the singular vectors of L and the sparse domain of S is required to reconstruct undersampled data. Incoherence between L and S is required for robust separation of background and dynamic components. Multicoil L+S reconstruction is formulated using a convex optimization approach, where the nuclear norm is used to enforce low rank in L and the l1 norm is used to enforce sparsity in S. Feasibility of the L+S reconstruction was tested in several dynamic MRI experiments with true acceleration, including cardiac perfusion, cardiac cine, time-resolved angiography, and abdominal and breast perfusion using Cartesian and radial sampling.

RESULTS

The L+S model increased compressibility of dynamic MRI data and thus enabled high-acceleration factors. The inherent background separation improved background suppression performance compared to conventional data subtraction, which is sensitive to motion.

CONCLUSION

The high acceleration and background separation enabled by L+S promises to enhance spatial and temporal resolution and to enable background suppression without the need of subtraction or modeling.

Whole heart coronary imaging with flexible acquisition window and trigger delay

Coronary magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) requires a correctly timed trigger delay derived from a scout cine scan to synchronize k-space acquisition with the quiescent period of the cardiac cycle. However, heart rate changes between breath-held cine and free-breathing coronary imaging may result in inaccurate timing errors. Additionally, the determined trigger delay may not reflect the period of minimal motion for both left and right coronary arteries or different segments. In this work, we present a whole-heart coronary imaging approach that allows flexible selection of the trigger delay timings by performing k-space sampling over an enlarged acquisition window. Our approach addresses coronary motion in an interactive manner by allowing the operator to determine the temporal window with minimal cardiac motion for each artery region. An electrocardiogram-gated, k-space segmented 3D radial stack-of-stars sequence that employs a custom rotation angle is developed. An interactive reconstruction and visualization platform is then employed to determine the subset of the enlarged acquisition window for minimal coronary motion. Coronary MRI was acquired on eight healthy subjects (5 male, mean age = 37 ± 18 years), where an enlarged acquisition window of 166–220 ms was set 50 ms prior to the scout-derived trigger delay. Coronary visualization and sharpness scores were compared between the standard 120 ms window set at the trigger delay, and those reconstructed using a manually adjusted window. The proposed method using manual adjustment was able to recover delineation of five mid and distal right coronary artery regions that were otherwise not visible from the standard window, and the sharpness scores improved in all coronary regions using the proposed method. This paper demonstrates the feasibility of a whole-heart coronary imaging approach that allows interactive selection of any subset of the enlarged acquisition window for a tailored reconstruction for each branch region.

Acceleration of MRI of the vocal tract provides additional insight into articulator modifications

PURPOSE

To accelerate dynamic imaging of the vocal tract during articulation.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Five subjects were imaged by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) while repeating the word "Partikel" at 90 beats per minute, using both a radio-frequency-spoiled radial gradient echo sequence with golden angle projection rotation and a previously applied real-time Cartesian sequence. The acquired data were reconstructed using a CG-SENSE method and Cartesian reconstruction. The images from both methods were compared by measuring distances between anatomical landmarks that are important for resonance behavior of the vocal tract. Only commonly available hardware and software were used.

RESULTS

With the presented radial method a spatial resolution of 1.8 mm at 25 frames per second could be achieved. Overall, the morphometric measurements of the vocal tract showed less deviation for the radial sequence both across repetitions and for all subjects. Fast modifications, such as complete lip closing, could be analyzed with greater fidelity using the high temporal resolution of the radial sequence.

CONCLUSION

The results indicate that higher temporal resolution is a necessity to catch fast morphometric changes in the vocal tract.

Comparison of image-based and reconstruction-based respiratory motion correction for golden radial phase encoding coronary MR angiography

PURPOSE

To evaluate two commonly used respiratory motion correction techniques for coronary magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) regarding their dependency on motion estimation accuracy and final image quality and to compare both methods to the respiratory gating approach used in clinical practice.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Ten healthy volunteers were scanned using a non-Cartesian radial phase encoding acquisition. Respiratory motion was corrected for coronary MRA according to two motion correction techniques, image-based (IMC) and reconstruction-based (RMC) respiratory motion correction. Both motion correction approaches were compared quantitatively and qualitatively against a reference standard navigator-based respiratory gating (RG) approach. Quantitative comparisons were performed regarding visible vessel length, vessel sharpness, and total acquisition time. Two experts carried out a visual scoring of image quality. Additionally, numerical simulations were performed to evaluate the effect of motion estimation inaccuracy on RMC and IMC.

RESULTS

RMC led to significantly better image quality than IMC (P's paired Student's t-test were smaller than 0.001 for vessel sharpness and visual scoring). RMC did not show a statistically significant difference compared to reference standard RG (vessel length [99% confidence interval]: 86.913 [83.097-95.015], P = 0.107; vessel sharpness: 0.640 [0.605-0.802], P = 0.012; visual scoring: 2.583 [2.410-3.424], P = 0.018) in terms of vessel visualization and image quality while reducing scan times by 56%. Simulations showed higher dependencies for RMC than for IMC on motion estimation inaccuracies.

CONCLUSION

RMC provides a similar image quality as the clinically used RG approach but almost halves the scan time and is independent of subjects' breathing patterns. Clinical validation of RMC is now desirable.

Self-gated cardiac Cine MRI of the rat on a clinical 3 T MRI system

The ability to perform small animal functional cardiac imaging on clinical MRI scanners may be of particular value in cases in which the availability of a dedicated high field animal MRI scanner is limited. Here, we propose radial MR cardiac imaging in the rat on a whole-body clinical 3 T scanner in combination with interspersed projection navigators for self-gating without any additional external triggering requirements for electrocardiogram (ECG) and respiration. Single navigator readouts were interspersed using the same TR and a high navigator frequency of 54 Hz into a radial golden-angle acquisition. The extracted navigator function was thresholded to exclude data for reconstruction from inhalation phases during the breathing cycle, enabling free breathing acquisition. To minimize flow artifacts in the dynamic cine images a center-out half echo radial acquisition scheme with ramp sampling was used. Navigator functions were derived from the corresponding projection navigator data from which both respiration and cardiac cycles were extracted. Self-gated cine acquisition resulted in high-quality cardiac images which were free of major artifacts with spatial resolution of up to 0.21 × 0.21 × 1.00 mm(3) and a contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) of 21 ± 3 between the myocardium and left ventricle. Self-gated golden ratio based radial acquisition successfully acquired cine images of the rat heart on a clinical MRI system without the need for dedicated animal ECG equipment.

Maximally spaced projection sequencing in electron paramagnetic resonance imaging

Electron paramagnetic resonance imaging (EPRI) provides 3D images of absolute oxygen concentration (pO₂) in vivo with excellent spatial and pO₂ resolution. When investigating such physiologic parameters in living animals, the situation is inherently dynamic. Improvements in temporal resolution and experimental versatility are necessary to properly study such a system. Uniformly distributed projections result in efficient use of data for image reconstruction. This has dictated current methods such as equal-solid-angle (ESA) spacing of projections. However, acquisition sequencing must still be optimized to achieve uniformity throughout imaging. An object-independent method for uniform acquisition of projections, using the ESA uniform distribution for the final set of projections, is presented. Each successive projection maximizes the distance in the gradient space between itself and prior projections. This maximally spaced projection sequencing (MSPS) method improves image quality for intermediate images reconstructed from incomplete projection sets, enabling useful real-time reconstruction. This method also provides improved experimental versatility, reduced artifacts, and the ability to adjust temporal resolution post factum to best fit the data and its application. The MSPS method in EPRI provides the improvements necessary to more appropriately study a dynamic system.

Echo time dependence of observed T1 in the human lung

BACKGROUND

This work is intended to demonstrate that T1 measured in the lungs depends on the echo time (TE) used. Measuring lung T1 can be used to gain quantitative morphological and functional information. It is also shown that this dependence is particularly visible when using an ultra-short TE (UTE) sequence with TE well below 1 ms for T1 quantification in lung tissue, rather than techniques with TE on the order of 1-2 ms.

METHODS

The lungs of 12 healthy volunteers (aged 22 to 33 years) were examined at 1.5 Tesla. A segmented inversion recovery Look-Locker multi-echo sequence based on two-dimensional UTE was used for independent T1 quantification at five TEs between TE1  = 70 μs and TE5  = 2.3 ms.

RESULTS

The measured T1 was found to increase gradually with TE from 1060 ± 40 ms at TE1 to 1389 ± 53 ms at TE5 (P < 0.001).

CONCLUSION

Measuring T1 at ultra-short echo times reveals a significant dependence of observed T1 on the echo time. Thus, any comparison of T1 values should also consider the TEs used. However, this dependence on TE could also be exploited to gain additional diagnostic information on the tissue compartments in the lung.

Intrinsic correction of system delays for radial magnetic resonance imaging

INTRODUCTION

When using radial MR image acquisition techniques gradient or sampling delays due to hardware imperfections can cause mismatch between the expected and the actual k-space trajectory along the readout direction. To provide a robust and simple correction of such system delays we developed a new calibration method which is independent of using any reference data or applying sequence modifications.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Radial data obtained with 180°, 360° and golden-angle radial ordering schemes were deliberately shifted along the readout direction for a discrete range of gradient delays. Following 2D regridding, images were reconstructed and analyzed in image space for all applied shifts to estimate the optimal system delay. Phantom and in vivo measurements were performed to test the robustness of the algorithm.

RESULTS

Using the 360° and golden-angle radial ordering schemes system delays in the range of 3.3μs to 6.3μs were estimated and corrected for several imaging applications and different conditions, including cardiac and real-time MRI as well as multiple acquisitions using different imaging parameters and slice orientations. When using the standard 180° radial acquisition scheme no automated correction was possible. With a mean computation time of 23.2±14.0s for the delay estimation computational demands were moderate allowing implementation of the algorithm on the image reconstruction system of any modern MR system.

CONCLUSION

We have demonstrated that radial data acquired with a 360° or golden-angle ordering scheme can be used for reliable intrinsic correction of system delays. The proposed technique enables a per-scan correction of system delays without the need for additional calibration data or modifications of the radial imaging sequence.

Patch based reconstruction of undersampled data (PROUD) for high signal-to-noise ratio and high frame rate contrast enhanced liver imaging

PURPOSE

High spatial-temporal four-dimensional imaging with large volume coverage is necessary to accurately capture and characterize liver lesions. Traditionally, parallel imaging and adapted sampling are used toward this goal, but they typically result in a loss of signal to noise. Furthermore, residual under-sampling artifacts can be temporally varying and complicate the quantitative analysis of contrast enhancement curves needed for pharmacokinetic modeling. We propose to overcome these problems using a novel patch-based regularization approach called Patch-based Reconstruction Of Under-sampled Data (PROUD).

THEORY AND METHODS

PROUD produces high frame rate image reconstructions by exploiting the strong similarities in spatial patches between successive time frames to overcome the severe k-space under-sampling. To validate PROUD, a numerical liver perfusion phantom was developed to characterize contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) performance compared with a previously proposed method, TRACER. A second numerical phantom was constructed to evaluate the temporal footprint and lag of PROUD and TRACER reconstructions. Finally, PROUD and TRACER were evaluated in a cohort of five liver donors.

RESULTS

In the CNR phantom, PROUD, compared with TRACER, improved peak CNR by 3.66 times while maintaining or improving temporal fidelity. In vivo, PROUD demonstrated an average increase in CNR of 60% compared with TRACER.

CONCLUSION

The results presented in this work demonstrate the feasibility of using a combination of patch based image constraints with temporal regularization to provide high SNR, high temporal frame rate and spatial resolution four dimensional imaging.

Continuously moving table MRI with golden angle radial sampling

PURPOSE

Continuously moving table (CMT) MRI is a high throughput technique that has multiple applications in whole-body imaging. In this work, CMT MRI based on golden angle (GA, 111.246° azimuthal step) radial sampling is developed at 3 Tesla (T), with the goal of increased flexibility in image reconstruction using arbitrary profile groupings.

THEORY AND METHODS

CMT MRI with GA and linear angle (LA) schemes were developed for whole-body imaging at 3T with a table speed of 20 mm/s. Imaging was performed in phantoms and a human volunteer with extended z fields of view of up to 1.8 meters. Four separate LA and a single GA scan were performed to enable slice reconstructions at four different thicknesses.

RESULTS

GA CMT MRI produced high image quality in phantoms and humans and allowed complete flexibility in reconstruction of slices with arbitrary slice thickness and position from a single data set. LA CMT MRI was constrained by predetermined parameters, required multiple scans and suffered from stair step artifacts that were not present in GA images.

CONCLUSION

GA sampling provides a robust flexible approach to CMT whole-body MRI with the ability to reconstruct slices at arbitrary positions and thicknesses from a single scan.

Non-ECG-gated myocardial perfusion MRI using continuous magnetization-driven radial sampling

PURPOSE

Establishing a high-resolution non-ECG-gated first-pass perfusion (FPP) cardiac MRI technique may improve accessibility and diagnostic capability of FPP imaging. We propose a non-ECG-gated FPP imaging technique using continuous magnetization-driven golden-angle radial acquisition. The main purpose of this preliminary study is to evaluate whether, in the simple case of single-slice two-dimensional imaging, adequate myocardial contrast can be obtained for accurate visualization of hypoperfused territories in the setting of myocardial ischemia.

METHODS

A T1-weighted pulse sequence with continuous golden-angle radial sampling was developed for non-ECG-gated FPP imaging. A sliding-window scheme with no temporal acceleration was used to reconstruct 8 frames/s. Canines were imaged at 3T with and without coronary stenosis using the proposed scheme and a conventional magnetization-prepared ECG-gated FPP method.

RESULTS

Our studies showed that the proposed non-ECG-gated method is capable of generating high-resolution (1.7 × 1.7 × 6 mm(3) ) artifact-free FPP images of a single slice at high heart rates (92 ± 21 beats/min), while matching the performance of conventional FPP imaging in terms of hypoperfused-to-normal myocardial contrast-to-noise ratio (proposed: 5.18 ± 0.70, conventional: 4.88 ± 0.43). Furthermore, the detected perfusion defect areas were consistent with the conventional FPP images.

CONCLUSION

Non-ECG-gated FPP imaging using optimized continuous golden-angle radial acquisition achieves desirable image quality (i.e., adequate myocardial contrast, high spatial resolution, and minimal artifacts) in the setting of ischemia.

Reducing contrast contamination in radial turbo-spin-echo acquisitions by combining a narrow-band KWIC filter with parallel imaging

PURPOSE

Cartesian turbo spin-echo (TSE) and radial TSE images are usually reconstructed by assembling data containing different contrast information into a single k-space. This approach results in mixed contrast contributions in the images, which may reduce their diagnostic value. The goal of this work is to improve the image contrast from radial TSE acquisitions by reducing the contribution of signals with undesired contrast information.

METHODS

Radial TSE acquisitions allow the reconstruction of multiple images with different T2 contrasts using the k-space weighted image contrast (KWIC) filter. In this work, the image contrast is improved by reducing the band-width of the KWIC filter. Data for the reconstruction of a single image are selected from within a small temporal range around the desired echo time. The resulting dataset is undersampled and, therefore, an iterative parallel imaging algorithm is applied to remove aliasing artifacts.

RESULTS

Radial TSE images of the human brain reconstructed with the proposed method show an improved contrast when compared with Cartesian TSE images or radial TSE images with conventional KWIC reconstructions.

CONCLUSION

The proposed method provides multi-contrast images from radial TSE data with contrasts similar to multi spin-echo images. Contaminations from unwanted contrast weightings are strongly reduced.

Real-time magnetic resonance imaging of cardiac function and flow-recent progress

Cardiac structure, function and flow are most commonly studied by ultrasound, X-ray and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques. However, cardiovascular MRI is hitherto limited to electrocardiogram (ECG)-synchronized acquisitions and therefore often results in compromised quality for patients with arrhythmias or inabilities to comply with requested protocols-especially with breath-holding. Recent advances in the development of novel real-time MRI techniques now offer dynamic imaging of the heart and major vessels with high spatial and temporal resolution, so that examinations may be performed without the need for ECG synchronization and during free breathing. This article provides an overview of technical achievements, physiological validations, preliminary patient studies and translational aspects for a future clinical scenario of cardiovascular MRI in real time.

Isotropic diffusion weighting for measurement of a high-resolution apparent diffusion coefficient map using a single radial scan in MRI

This work proposes an isotropic diffusion weighting method for a high-resolution diffusion-weighted image and for a high-resolution apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) map using a single radial scan in MRI. By using a conventional radial imaging technique, a high-resolution diffusion-weighted (DW) image can be obtained at the cost of a long imaging time. To reduce the imaging time, the proposed method acquires a DW image by altering the diffusion gradient directions for each radial spoke. The acquisition order and directions of the diffusion gradients for an accurate DW image and an ADC map are also proposed by modifying the golden angle ratio in 3D space. In addition, an individual-direction diffusion-weighted (id-DW) image can also be obtained by a diffusion gradient direction, which is one of the multiple directions used in isotropic diffusion weighting. Computer simulations and experiment results show that the proposed method is more accurate and faster than the conventional radial diffusion-weighted imaging. This study suggests that the proposed isotropic diffusion-weighted imaging can be used to obtain a DW image and a high-resolution ADC map accurately in a single radial scan, while reducing the artifacts caused by the diffusion anisotropy, compared to the diffusion-weighted echo-planar-imaging.

Free-breathing pediatric MRI with nonrigid motion correction and acceleration

PURPOSE

To develop and assess motion correction techniques for high-resolution pediatric abdominal volumetric magnetic resonance images acquired free-breathing with high scan efficiency.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

First, variable-density sampling and radial-like phase-encode ordering were incorporated into the 3D Cartesian acquisition. Second, intrinsic multichannel butterfly navigators were used to measure respiratory motion. Lastly, these estimates are applied for both motion-weighted data-consistency in a compressed sensing and parallel imaging reconstruction, and for nonrigid motion correction using a localized autofocusing framework. With Institutional Review Board approval and informed consent/assent, studies were performed on 22 consecutive pediatric patients. Two radiologists independently scored the images for overall image quality, degree of motion artifacts, and sharpness of hepatic vessels and the diaphragm. The results were assessed using paired Wilcoxon test and weighted kappa coefficient for interobserver agreements.

RESULTS

The complete procedure yielded significantly better overall image quality (mean score of 4.7 out of 5) when compared to using no correction (mean score of 3.4, P < 0.05) and to using motion-weighted accelerated imaging (mean score of 3.9, P < 0.05). With an average scan time of 28 seconds, the proposed method resulted in comparable image quality to conventional prospective respiratory-triggered acquisitions with an average scan time of 91 seconds (mean score of 4.5).

CONCLUSION

With the proposed methods, diagnosable high-resolution abdominal volumetric scans can be obtained from free-breathing data acquisitions.

Simulation study of the effect of golden-angle KWIC with generalized kinetic model analysis on diagnostic accuracy for lesion discrimination

PURPOSE

To quantitatively evaluate temporal blurring of dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI data generated using a k-space weighted image contrast (KWIC) image reconstruction technique with golden-angle view-ordering.

METHODS

K-space data were simulated using golden-angle view-ordering and reconstructed using a KWIC algorithm with a Fibonacci number of views enforced for each annulus in k-space. Temporal blurring was evaluated by comparing pharmacokinetic model parameters estimated from the simulated data with the true values. Diagnostic accuracy was quantified using receiver operator characteristic curves (ROC) and the area under the ROC curves (AUC).

RESULTS

Estimation errors of pharmacokinetic model parameters were dependent on the true curve type and the lesion size. For 10mm benign and malignant lesions, estimated AUC values using the true and estimate AIFs were consistent with the true AUC value. For 5mm benign and 20mm malignant lesions, estimated AUC values using the true and estimated AIFs were 0.906±0.020 and 0.905±0.021, respectively, as compared with the true AUC value of 0.896.

CONCLUSIONS

Although the investigated reconstruction algorithm does impose errors in pharmacokinetic model parameter estimation, they are not expected to significantly impact clinical studies of diagnostic accuracy.