1
|
Plähn NMJ, Poli S, Peper ES, Açikgöz BC, Kreis R, Ganter C, Bastiaansen JAM. Getting the phase consistent: The importance of phase description in balanced steady-state free precession MRI of multi-compartment systems. Magn Reson Med 2024; 92:215-225. [PMID: 38321594 DOI: 10.1002/mrm.30033] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/16/2023] [Revised: 01/09/2024] [Accepted: 01/12/2024] [Indexed: 02/08/2024]
Abstract
PURPOSE Determine the correct mathematical phase description for balanced steady-state free precession (bSSFP) signals in multi-compartment systems. THEORY AND METHODS Based on published bSSFP signal models, different phase descriptions can be formulated: one predicting the presence and the other predicting the absence of destructive interference effects in multi-compartment systems. Numerical simulations of bSSFP signals of water and acetone were performed to evaluate the predictions of these different phase descriptions. For experimental validation, bSSFP profiles were measured at 3T using phase-cycled bSSFP acquisitions performed in a phantom containing mixtures of water and acetone, which replicates a system with two signal components. Localized single voxel MRS was performed at 7T to determine the relative chemical shift of the acetone-water mixtures. RESULTS Based on the choice of phase description, the simulated bSSFP profiles of water-acetone mixtures varied significantly, either displaying or lacking destructive interference effects, as predicted theoretically. In phantom experiments, destructive interference was consistently observed in the measured bSSFP profiles of water-acetone mixtures, supporting the theoretical description that predicts such interference effects. The connection between the choice of phase description and predicted observation enables unambiguous experimental identification of the correct phase description for multi-compartment bSSFP profiles, which is consistent with the Bloch equations. CONCLUSION The study emphasizes that consistent phase descriptions are crucial for accurately describing multi-compartment bSSFP signals, as incorrect phase descriptions result in erroneous predictions.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Nils M J Plähn
- Department of Diagnostic, Interventional and Pediatric Radiology (DIPR), Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
- Translation Imaging Center (TIC), Swiss Institute for Translational and Entrepreneurial Medicine, Bern, Switzerland
- Graduate School for Cellular and Biomedical Sciences, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Simone Poli
- Translation Imaging Center (TIC), Swiss Institute for Translational and Entrepreneurial Medicine, Bern, Switzerland
- Graduate School for Cellular and Biomedical Sciences, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
- MR Methodology, Department for Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Eva S Peper
- Department of Diagnostic, Interventional and Pediatric Radiology (DIPR), Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
- Translation Imaging Center (TIC), Swiss Institute for Translational and Entrepreneurial Medicine, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Berk C Açikgöz
- Department of Diagnostic, Interventional and Pediatric Radiology (DIPR), Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
- Translation Imaging Center (TIC), Swiss Institute for Translational and Entrepreneurial Medicine, Bern, Switzerland
- Graduate School for Cellular and Biomedical Sciences, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Roland Kreis
- Translation Imaging Center (TIC), Swiss Institute for Translational and Entrepreneurial Medicine, Bern, Switzerland
- MR Methodology, Department for Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
- Department for Biomedical Research, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Carl Ganter
- Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, TUM School of Medicine and Health, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Jessica A M Bastiaansen
- Department of Diagnostic, Interventional and Pediatric Radiology (DIPR), Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
- Translation Imaging Center (TIC), Swiss Institute for Translational and Entrepreneurial Medicine, Bern, Switzerland
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Chen Z, Hua S, Gao J, Chen Y, Gong Y, Shen Y, Tang X, Emu Y, Jin W, Hu C. A dual-stage partially interpretable neural network for joint suppression of bSSFP banding and flow artifacts in non-phase-cycled cine imaging. J Cardiovasc Magn Reson 2023; 25:68. [PMID: 37993824 PMCID: PMC10666342 DOI: 10.1186/s12968-023-00988-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/25/2023] [Accepted: 11/12/2023] [Indexed: 11/24/2023] Open
Abstract
PURPOSE To develop a partially interpretable neural network for joint suppression of banding and flow artifacts in non-phase-cycled bSSFP cine imaging. METHODS A dual-stage neural network consisting of a voxel-identification (VI) sub-network and artifact-suppression (AS) sub-network is proposed. The VI sub-network provides identification of artifacts, which guides artifact suppression and improves interpretability. The AS sub-network reduces banding and flow artifacts. Short-axis cine images of 12 frequency offsets from 28 healthy subjects were used to train and test the dual-stage network. An additional 77 patients were retrospectively enrolled to evaluate its clinical generalizability. For healthy subjects, artifact suppression performance was analyzed by comparison with traditional phase cycling. The partial interpretability provided by the VI sub-network was analyzed via correlation analysis. Generalizability was evaluated for cine obtained with different sequence parameters and scanners. For patients, artifact suppression performance and partial interpretability of the network were qualitatively evaluated by 3 clinicians. Cardiac function before and after artifact suppression was assessed via left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). RESULTS For the healthy subjects, visual inspection and quantitative analysis found a considerable reduction of banding and flow artifacts by the proposed network. Compared with traditional phase cycling, the proposed network improved flow artifact scores (4.57 ± 0.23 vs 3.40 ± 0.38, P = 0.002) and overall image quality (4.33 ± 0.22 vs 3.60 ± 0.38, P = 0.002). The VI sub-network well identified the location of banding and flow artifacts in the original movie and significantly correlated with the change of signal intensities in these regions. Changes of imaging parameters or the scanner did not cause a significant change of overall image quality relative to the baseline dataset, suggesting a good generalizability. For the patients, qualitative analysis showed a significant improvement of banding artifacts (4.01 ± 0.50 vs 2.77 ± 0.40, P < 0.001), flow artifacts (4.22 ± 0.38 vs 2.97 ± 0.57, P < 0.001), and image quality (3.91 ± 0.45 vs 2.60 ± 0.43, P < 0.001) relative to the original cine. The artifact suppression slightly reduced the LVEF (mean bias = -1.25%, P = 0.01). CONCLUSIONS The dual-stage network simultaneously reduces banding and flow artifacts in bSSFP cine imaging with a partial interpretability, sparing the need for sequence modification. The method can be easily deployed in a clinical setting to identify artifacts and improve cine image quality.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Zhuo Chen
- National Engineering Research Center of Advanced Magnetic Resonance Technologies for Diagnosis and Therapy, School of Biomedical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 415 S Med-X Center, 1954 Huashan Road, Shanghai, 200030, China
| | - Sha Hua
- Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Heart Failure Center, Ruijin Hospital Lu Wan Branch, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Juan Gao
- National Engineering Research Center of Advanced Magnetic Resonance Technologies for Diagnosis and Therapy, School of Biomedical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 415 S Med-X Center, 1954 Huashan Road, Shanghai, 200030, China
| | - Yanjia Chen
- Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Heart Failure Center, Ruijin Hospital Lu Wan Branch, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Yiwen Gong
- Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Heart Failure Center, Ruijin Hospital Lu Wan Branch, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Yiwen Shen
- Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Heart Failure Center, Ruijin Hospital Lu Wan Branch, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Xin Tang
- National Engineering Research Center of Advanced Magnetic Resonance Technologies for Diagnosis and Therapy, School of Biomedical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 415 S Med-X Center, 1954 Huashan Road, Shanghai, 200030, China
| | - Yixin Emu
- National Engineering Research Center of Advanced Magnetic Resonance Technologies for Diagnosis and Therapy, School of Biomedical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 415 S Med-X Center, 1954 Huashan Road, Shanghai, 200030, China
| | - Wei Jin
- Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Heart Failure Center, Ruijin Hospital Lu Wan Branch, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Chenxi Hu
- National Engineering Research Center of Advanced Magnetic Resonance Technologies for Diagnosis and Therapy, School of Biomedical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 415 S Med-X Center, 1954 Huashan Road, Shanghai, 200030, China.
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Hoff MN, Xiang QS, Cross NM, Hippe D, Andre JB. Motion resilience of the balanced steady-state free precession geometric solution. Magn Reson Med 2022; 89:192-204. [PMID: 36093906 DOI: 10.1002/mrm.29438] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/21/2022] [Revised: 07/26/2022] [Accepted: 08/11/2022] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
PURPOSE Many MRI sequences are sensitive to motion and its associated artifacts. The linearized geometric solution (LGS), a balanced steady-state free precession (bSSFP) off-resonance signal demodulation technique, is evaluated with respect to motion artifact resilience. THEORY AND METHODS The mechanism and extent of LGS motion artifact resilience is examined in simulated, flow phantom, and in vivo clinical imaging. Motion artifact correction capabilities are decoupled from susceptibility artifact correction when feasible to permit controlled analysis of motion artifact correction when comparing the LGS with standard and phase-cycle-averaged (complex sum) bSSFP imaging. RESULTS Simulations reveal that the LGS demonstrates motion artifact reduction capabilities similar to standard clinical bSSFP imaging techniques, with slightly greater resilience in high SNR regions and for shorter-duration motion. Flow phantom experiments assert that the LGS reduces shorter-duration motion artifact error by ∼24%-65% relative to the complex sum, whereas reconstructions exhibit similar error reduction for constant motion. In vivo analysis demonstrates that in the internal auditory canal/orbits, the LGS was deemed to have less artifact in 24%/49% and similar artifact in 76%/51% of radiological assessments relative to the complex sum, and the LGS had less artifact in 97%/81% and similar artifact in 3%/16% of assessments relative to standard bSSFP. Only 2 of 63 assessments deemed the LGS inferior to either complex sum or standard bSSFP in terms of artifact reduction. CONCLUSION The LGS provides sufficient bSSFP motion artifact resilience to permit robust elimination of susceptibility artifacts, inspiring its use in a wide variety of applications.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Michael N Hoff
- Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA
| | - Qing-San Xiang
- Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.,Department of Radiology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Nathan M Cross
- Department of Radiology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA
| | - Daniel Hippe
- Clinical Biostatistics, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Washington, USA
| | - Jalal B Andre
- Department of Radiology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Keskin K, Yilmaz U, Cukur T. Constrained Ellipse Fitting for Efficient Parameter Mapping With Phase-Cycled bSSFP MRI. IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MEDICAL IMAGING 2022; 41:14-26. [PMID: 34351856 DOI: 10.1109/tmi.2021.3102852] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Balanced steady-state free precession (bSSFP) imaging enables high scan efficiency in MRI, but differs from conventional sequences in terms of elevated sensitivity to main field inhomogeneity and nonstandard [Formula: see text]-weighted tissue contrast. To address these limitations, multiple bSSFP images of the same anatomy are commonly acquired with a set of different RF phase-cycling increments. Joint processing of phase-cycled acquisitions serves to mitigate sensitivity to field inhomogeneity. Recently phase-cycled bSSFP acquisitions were also leveraged to estimate relaxation parameters based on explicit signal models. While effective, these model-based methods often involve a large number of acquisitions (N ≈ 10-16), degrading scan efficiency. Here, we propose a new constrained ellipse fitting method (CELF) for parameter estimation with improved efficiency and accuracy in phase-cycled bSSFP MRI. CELF is based on the elliptical signal model framework for complex bSSFP signals; and it introduces geometrical constraints on ellipse properties to improve estimation efficiency, and dictionary-based identification to improve estimation accuracy. CELF generates maps of [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text], off-resonance and on-resonant bSSFP signal by employing a separate [Formula: see text] map to mitigate sensitivity to flip angle variations. Our results indicate that CELF can produce accurate off-resonance and banding-free bSSFP maps with as few as N = 4 acquisitions, while estimation accuracy for relaxation parameters is notably limited by biases from microstructural sensitivity of bSSFP imaging.
Collapse
|
5
|
Bıyık E, Keskin K, Uh Dar S, Koç A, Çukur T. Factorized sensitivity estimation for artifact suppression in phase-cycled bSSFP MRI. NMR IN BIOMEDICINE 2020; 33:e4228. [PMID: 31985879 DOI: 10.1002/nbm.4228] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/06/2019] [Revised: 10/08/2019] [Accepted: 10/25/2019] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Balanced steady-state free precession (bSSFP) imaging suffers from banding artifacts in the presence of magnetic field inhomogeneity. The purpose of this study is to identify an efficient strategy to reconstruct banding-free bSSFP images from multi-coil multi-acquisition datasets. METHOD Previous techniques either assume that a naïve coil-combination is performed a priori resulting in suboptimal artifact suppression, or that artifact suppression is performed for each coil separately at the expense of significant computational burden. Here we propose a tailored method that factorizes the estimation of coil and bSSFP sensitivity profiles for improved accuracy and/or speed. RESULTS In vivo experiments show that the proposed method outperforms naïve coil-combination and coil-by-coil processing in terms of both reconstruction quality and time. CONCLUSION The proposed method enables computationally efficient artifact suppression for phase-cycled bSSFP imaging with modern coil arrays. Rapid imaging applications can efficiently benefit from the improved robustness of bSSFP imaging against field inhomogeneity.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Erdem Bıyık
- Department of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, CA, USA
- Intelligent Data Analytics Research Program Department, Aselsan Research Center, Ankara, Turkey
- Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey
| | - Kübra Keskin
- Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey
- National Magnetic Resonance Research Center (UMRAM), Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey
| | - Salman Uh Dar
- Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey
- National Magnetic Resonance Research Center (UMRAM), Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey
| | - Aykut Koç
- Intelligent Data Analytics Research Program Department, Aselsan Research Center, Ankara, Turkey
- Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey
- National Magnetic Resonance Research Center (UMRAM), Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey
| | - Tolga Çukur
- Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey
- National Magnetic Resonance Research Center (UMRAM), Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey
- Neuroscience Program at Sabuncu Brain Research Center, Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Parallel imaging compressed sensing for accelerated imaging and improved signal-to-noise ratio in MRI-based postimplant dosimetry of prostate brachytherapy. Brachytherapy 2018; 17:816-824. [DOI: 10.1016/j.brachy.2018.05.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/10/2018] [Revised: 05/06/2018] [Accepted: 05/08/2018] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
|
7
|
Hilbert T, Nguyen D, Thiran J, Krueger G, Kober T, Bieri O. True constructive interference in the steady state (trueCISS). Magn Reson Med 2017; 79:1901-1910. [DOI: 10.1002/mrm.26836] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/09/2017] [Revised: 06/01/2017] [Accepted: 06/22/2017] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Tom Hilbert
- Advanced Clinical Imaging Technology (HC CEMEA SUI DI PI), Siemens Healthcare AGLausanne Switzerland
- LTS5, École Polytechnique Fédérale de LausanneLausanne Switzerland
- Department of RadiologyUniversity Hospital (CHUV)Lausanne Switzerland
| | - Damien Nguyen
- Division of Radiological PhysicsDepartment of Radiology, University Hospital Basel, University of BaselBasel Switzerland
- Department of Biomedical EngineeringUniversity of BaselBasel Switzerland
| | - Jean‐Philippe Thiran
- LTS5, École Polytechnique Fédérale de LausanneLausanne Switzerland
- Department of RadiologyUniversity Hospital (CHUV)Lausanne Switzerland
| | - Gunnar Krueger
- LTS5, École Polytechnique Fédérale de LausanneLausanne Switzerland
- Department of RadiologyUniversity Hospital (CHUV)Lausanne Switzerland
- Siemens Medical Solutions USABoston Massachusetts USA
| | - Tobias Kober
- Advanced Clinical Imaging Technology (HC CEMEA SUI DI PI), Siemens Healthcare AGLausanne Switzerland
- LTS5, École Polytechnique Fédérale de LausanneLausanne Switzerland
- Department of RadiologyUniversity Hospital (CHUV)Lausanne Switzerland
| | - Oliver Bieri
- Division of Radiological PhysicsDepartment of Radiology, University Hospital Basel, University of BaselBasel Switzerland
- Department of Biomedical EngineeringUniversity of BaselBasel Switzerland
| |
Collapse
|