Primal-dual and forward gradient implementation for quantitative susceptibility mapping

PURPOSE

To investigate the computational aspects of the prior term in quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) by (i) comparing the Gauss-Newton conjugate gradient (GNCG) algorithm that uses numerical conditioning (ie, modifies the prior term) with a primal-dual (PD) formulation that avoids this, and (ii) carrying out a comparison between a central and forward difference scheme for the discretization of the prior term.

THEORY AND METHODS

A spatially continuous formulation of the regularized QSM inversion problem and its PD formulation were derived. The Chambolle-Pock algorithm for PD was implemented and its convergence behavior was compared with that of GNCG for the original QSM. Forward and central difference schemes were compared in terms of the presence of checkerboard artifacts. All methods were tested and validated on a gadolinium phantom, ex vivo brain blocks, and in vivo brain MRI data with respect to COSMOS.

RESULTS

The PD approach provided a faster convergence rate than GNCG. The GNCG convergence rate slowed considerably with smaller (more accurate) values of the conditioning parameter. Using a forward difference suppressed the checkerboard artifacts in QSM, as compared with the central difference. The accuracy of PD and GNCG were validated based on excellent correlation with COSMOS.

CONCLUSIONS

The PD approach with forward difference for the gradient showed improved convergence and accuracy over the GNCG method using central difference. Magn Reson Med 78:2416-2427, 2017. © 2017 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.

Susceptibility underestimation in a high-susceptibility phantom: Dependence on imaging resolution, magnitude contrast, and other parameters

PURPOSE

We assessed the accuracy of quantitative susceptibility mapping in a gadolinium balloon phantom with a large range of susceptibility values and imaging resolutions at 1.5 and 3 Tesla (T).

THEORY AND METHODS

The phantom contained sources with susceptibility values of 0.4, 0.8, 1.6, and 3.2 ppm and was imaged at isotropic resolutions of 0.7, 0.8, 1.2, and 1.8 mm. Numerical simulations were performed to match the experimental findings. Voxel sensitivity effects were used to explain the susceptibility underestimations.

RESULTS

Both phantom data and simulation demonstrated that systematic underestimation of the susceptibility values increased with voxel size, field strength, and object susceptibility.

CONCLUSION

The underestimation originates from the signal formation in a voxel, which can be described by the voxel sensitivity function. The amount of underestimation is thus affected by imaging resolution, magnitude contrast, image filtering, and details of the susceptibility inclusions such as the susceptibility value and geometry. High-resolution imaging is therefore needed for accurate reconstruction of QSM values, especially at higher susceptibilities. Magn Reson Med 78:1080-1086, 2017. © 2016 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.

On the influence of zero-padding on the nonlinear operations in Quantitative Susceptibility Mapping

PURPOSE

Zero padding is a well-studied interpolation technique that improves image visualization without increasing image resolution. This interpolation is often performed as a last step before images are displayed on clinical workstations. Here, we seek to demonstrate the importance of zero padding before rather than after performing non-linear post-processing algorithms, such as Quantitative Susceptibility Mapping (QSM). To do so, we evaluate apparent spatial resolution, relative error and depiction of multiple sclerosis (MS) lesions on images that were zero padded prior to, in the middle of, and after the application of the QSM algorithm.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

High resolution gradient echo (GRE) data were acquired on twenty MS patients, from which low resolution data were derived using k-space cropping. Pre-, mid-, and post-zero padded QSM images were reconstructed from these low resolution data by zero padding prior to field mapping, after field mapping, and after susceptibility mapping, respectively. Using high resolution QSM as the gold standard, apparent spatial resolution, relative error, and image quality of the pre-, mid-, and post-zero padded QSM images were measured and compared.

RESULTS

Both the accuracy and apparent spatial resolution of the pre-zero padded QSM was higher than that of mid-zero padded QSM (p<0.001; p<0.001), which was higher than that of post-zero padded QSM (p<0.001; p<0.001). The image quality of pre-zero padded reconstructions was higher than that of mid- and post-zero padded reconstructions (p=0.004; p<0.001).

CONCLUSION

Zero padding of the complex GRE data prior to nonlinear susceptibility mapping improves image accuracy and apparent resolution compared to zero padding afterwards. It also provides better delineation of MS lesion geometry, which may improve lesion subclassification and disease monitoring in MS patients.

Diagnostic accuracy of intracellular uptake rates calculated using dynamic Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MRI for hepatic fibrosis stage

PURPOSE

To assess the diagnostic accuracy of intracellular uptake rates (K_i ), and other quantitative pharmacokinetic (PK) parameters, for hepatic fibrosis stage; to compare this accuracy with a previously published semiquantitative metric, contrast enhancement index (CEI); and to assess variability of these parameters between liver regions.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This was a case-control study design. Dynamic Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced 1.5T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was performed prospectively in 22 subjects with varying known stages of hepatic fibrosis. PK parameters and CEI were derived from the whole livers and from three fixed regions of interest (ROIs) in all subjects. Spearman rank correlation coefficients were computed to assess the relationship between fibrosis stages and each parameter. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were constructed to discriminate severe fibrosis (stages 3-4) from nonsevere fibrosis (stages 0-2). The coefficient of variation (CV) was calculated to assess variability in parameters between ROIs.

RESULTS

K_i and fibrosis stage were significantly correlated (R = -0.55, 95% confidence interval [CI] [-0.79, -0.14], P = 0.01). Area under ROC curve (AUC) in distinguishing severe from nonsevere fibrosis for K_i was 0.84 (95% CI [0.65,1.00]), and for CEI was 0.64 (95% CI [0.39, 0.89]) (P = 0.0248). CV for K_i and CEI were 33.4 and 5.8, respectively. The only other parameter in the PK model having significant correlation with fibrosis stage was absolute arterial blood flow (F_a ) (R = -0.48, 95% CI [-0.75,-0.05], P = 0.03).

CONCLUSION

Hepatocyte intracellular uptake rate, K_i , derived from dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI, correlates with fibrosis stage and may contribute to a noninvasive biomarker of hepatic fibrosis.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE

2 J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2017;45:1177-1185.

Preconditioned total field inversion (TFI) method for quantitative susceptibility mapping

PURPOSE

To investigate systematic errors in traditional quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) where background field removal and local field inversion (LFI) are performed sequentially, to develop a total field inversion (TFI) QSM method to reduce these errors, and to improve QSM quality in the presence of large susceptibility differences.

THEORY AND METHODS

The proposed TFI is a single optimization problem which simultaneously estimates the background and local fields, preventing error propagation from background field removal to QSM. To increase the computational speed, a new preconditioner is introduced and analyzed. TFI is compared with the traditional combination of background field removal and LFI in a numerical simulation and in phantom, 5 healthy subjects, and 18 patients with intracerebral hemorrhage.

RESULTS

Compared with the traditional method projection onto dipole fields+LFI, preconditioned TFI substantially reduced error in QSM along the air-tissue boundaries in simulation, generated high-quality in vivo QSM within similar processing time, and suppressed streaking artifacts in intracerebral hemorrhage QSM. Moreover, preconditioned TFI was capable of generating QSM for the entire head including the brain, air-filled sinus, skull, and fat.

CONCLUSION

Preconditioned total field inversion improves the accuracy of QSM over the traditional method where background and local fields are separately estimated. Magn Reson Med 78:303-315, 2017. © 2016 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.

Magnetic resonance microscopy may enable distinction between normal histomorphological features and prostate cancer in the resected prostate gland

OBJECTIVES

To determine imaging protocol parameters for characterization of prostate tissue at histological length scales.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Rapid acquisition with relaxation enhancement, spin echo and gradient echo fast low angle shot data were acquired using ex vivo 3-Tesla or 7-Tesla magnetic field strengths from fresh prostatectomy specimens (n = 15) obtained from either organ donor or patients with prostate cancer (PCa). To achieve the closest correspondence between histopathological components and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) results, in terms of resolution and sectioning planes, multiple high-resolution imaging protocols (ranging from a few minutes to overnight) were tested. Ductograms were generated as part of image post-processing. Specimens were subsequently submitted for histopathological evaluation.

RESULTS

A total of seven imaging protocols were tested. Ex vivo 7-Tesla MRI identified normal components of prostate glands, including ducts, blood vessels, concretions and stroma at a spatial resolution of 60 × 60 × 60 μm³ to 107 × 107 × 500 μm³ . Malignant glands and nests of tumour cells identified at 60 × 60 × 90 μm³ were highly similar to low-magnification (×2) histopathology. Ductograms enhanced the differentiation between benign and malignant glands. The results of the present study were encouraging, and further work is warranted with a larger sample size.

CONCLUSION

We showed that critical histopathological features of the prostate gland can be identified with high-resolution ex vivo MRI examination and this offers promise that MRI microscopy of PCa will ultimately be possible in vivo.

Direct coronary motion extraction from a 2D fat image navigator for prospectively gated coronary MR angiography

PURPOSE

Direct 2D tracking of cardiac motion may provide superior respiratory navigator gating for coronary magnetic resonance angiography compared to conventional liver-diaphragm navigators. However, additional 2D processing for motion extraction is unsuitable for real-time prospective gating. In this work, a 2D fat-selective image navigator, which delineates the epicardial fat surrounding coronary arteries, is developed to directly monitor epicardial fat motion at every heartbeat in real-time for prospective gating.

METHODS

The proposed navigator is incorporated into a real-time interactive software that allows rapid setup and efficient motion extraction, and runs on standard clinical hardware without any additional dedicated components for processing. The proposed 2D cardiac fat image navigator was compared with the conventional 1D diaphragm navigator in free-breathing b-SSFP coronary MRAs in 12 healthy volunteers at 1.5T.

RESULTS

Real-time motion extraction from 2D cardiac fat navigator images was feasible within 20 ms, enabling successful prospectively gated coronary magnetic resonance angiographies in all subjects. Compared to 1D diaphragmatic navigator, 2D fat image navigator reduced scan time by 38% (P < 0.0005), and significantly improved vessel sharpness, myocardial suppression, and image quality (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

This demonstrates the feasibility of a 3D SSFP coronary magnetic resonance angiography sequence using a 2D epicardial fat image as a navigator for real-time prospective motion tracking.

The influence of molecular order and microstructure on the R2* and the magnetic susceptibility tensor

In this work, we demonstrate that in the presence of ordered sub-voxel structure such as tubular organization, biomaterials with molecular isotropy exhibits only apparent R2* anisotropy, while biomaterials with molecular anisotropy exhibit both apparent R2* and susceptibility anisotropy by means of susceptibility tensor imaging (STI). To this end, R2* and STI from gradient echo magnitude and phase data were examined in phantoms made from carbon fiber and Gadolinium (Gd) solutions with and without intrinsic molecular order and sub-voxel structure as well as in the in vivo brain. Confidence in the tensor reconstructions was evaluated with a wild bootstrap analysis. Carbon fiber showed both apparent anisotropy in R2* and anisotropy in STI, while the Gd filled capillary tubes only showed apparent anisotropy on R2*. Similarly, white matter showed anisotropic R2* and magnetic susceptibility with higher confidence, while the cerebral veins displayed only strong apparent R2* tensor anisotropy. Ordered sub-voxel tissue microstructure leads to apparent R2* anisotropy, which can be found in both white matter tracts and cerebral veins. However, additional molecular anisotropy is required for magnetic susceptibility anisotropy, which can be found in white matter tracts but not in cerebral veins.

Quantitative mapping of cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen (CMRO2 ) using quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM)

PURPOSE

To quantitatively map cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen ( CMRO2) and oxygen extraction fraction ( OEF) in human brains using quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) and arterial spin labeling-measured cerebral blood flow (CBF) before and after caffeine vasoconstriction.

METHODS

Using the multiecho, three-dimensional gradient echo sequence and an oral bolus of 200 mg caffeine, whole brain CMRO2 and OEF were mapped at 3-mm isotropic resolution on 13 healthy subjects. The QSM-based CMRO2 was compared with an R2*-based CMRO2 to analyze the regional consistency within cortical gray matter (CGM) with the scaling in the R2* method set to provide same total CMRO2 as the QSM method for each subject.

RESULTS

Compared to precaffeine, susceptibility increased (5.1 ± 1.1 ppb; P < 0.01) and CBF decreased (-23.6 ± 6.7 ml/100 g/min; P < 0.01) at 25-min postcaffeine in CGM. This corresponded to a CMRO2 of 153.0 ± 26.4 μmol/100 g/min with an OEF of 33.9 ± 9.6% and 54.5 ± 13.2% (P < 0.01) pre- and postcaffeine, respectively, at CGM, and a CMRO2 of 58.0 ± 26.6 μmol/100 g/min at white matter. CMRO2 from both QSM- and R2*-based methods showed good regional consistency (P > 0.05), but quantitation of R2*-based CMRO2 required an additional scaling factor.

CONCLUSION

QSM can be used with perfusion measurements pre- and postcaffeine vascoconstriction to map CMRO2 and OEF.

Feasibility and reproducibility of whole brain myelin water mapping in 4 minutes using fast acquisition with spiral trajectory and adiabatic T2prep (FAST-T2) at 3T

PURPOSE

To develop and measure the reproducibility of 4-min whole brain myelin water fraction (MWF) mapping using fast acquisition with spiral trajectory and T2prep (FAST-T2) sequence at 3T.

METHODS

Experiments were performed on phantoms, 13 volunteers, and 16 patients with multiple sclerosis. MWF maps were extracted using a spatially constrained non-linear algorithm. The proposed adiabatic modified BIR-4 (mBIR-4) T2prep was compared with the conventional composite T2prep (COMP). The effect of reducing the number of echo times (TEs) from 15 to 6 (reducing scan time from 10 to 4 min) was evaluated. Reproducibility was assessed using correlation analysis, coefficient of variation (COV), and Bland-Altman plots.

RESULTS

Compared with COMP, mBIR-4 provided more accurate T2 in phantoms and better MWF maps in human brains. Reducing the number of TEs had a negligible effect on MWF map quality, with a regional MWF difference of <0.8%. Regional MWFs obtained by repeated scans showed excellent correlation (R = 0.99), low COV (1.3%-2.4%), and negligible bias within ±1% limits of agreement. On a voxel-wise basis, the agreement remained strong (correlation R = 0.89 ± 0.03, bias = 0.01% ± 0.29%, limits of agreement = [-3.35% ± 0.73%, 3.33% ± 0.61%]).

CONCLUSION

Whole brain MWF mapping with adiabatic FAST-T2 is feasible in 4 min and provides good intrasite reproducibility. Magn Reson Med 76:456-465, 2016. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Age and sex related differences in subcortical brain iron concentrations among healthy adults

Age and sex can influence brain iron levels. We studied the influence of these variables on deep gray matter magnetic susceptibilities. In 183 healthy volunteers (44.7 ± 14.2 years, range 20-69, ♀ 49%), in vivo quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) at 1.5T was performed to estimate brain iron accumulation in the following regions of interest (ROIs): caudate nucleus (Cd), putamen (Pt), globus pallidus (Gp), thalamus (Th), pulvinar (Pul), red nucleus (Rn), substantia nigra (Sn) and the cerebellar dentate nuclei (Dn). We gauged the influence of age and sex on magnetic susceptibility by specifying a series of structural equation models. The distributions of susceptibility varied in degree across the structures, conforming to histologic findings (Hallgren and Sourander, 1958), with the highest degree of susceptibility in the Gp and the lowest in the Th. Iron increase correlated across several ROIs, which may reflect an underlying age-related process. Advanced age was associated with a particularly strong linear rise of susceptibility in the striatum. Nonlinear age trends were found in the Rn, where they were the most pronounced, followed by the Pul and Sn, while minimal nonlinear trends were observed for the Pt, Th, and Dn. Moreover, sex related variations were observed, so that women showed lower levels of susceptibility in the Sn after accounting for age. Regional susceptibility of the Pul increased linearly with age in men but exhibited a nonlinear association with age in women with a leveling off starting from midlife. Women expected to be post menopause (+51 years) showed lower total magnetic susceptibility in the subcortical gray matter. The current report not only is consistent with previous reports of age related variations of brain iron, but also adds to the current knowledge by reporting age-related changes in less studied, smaller subcortical nuclei. This is the first in-vivo report to show lower total subcortical brain iron levels selectively in women from midlife, compared to men and younger women. These results encourage further assessment of sex differences in brain iron. We anticipate that age and sex are important co-factors to take into account when establishing a baseline level for differentiating pathologic neurodegeneration from healthy aging. The variations in regional susceptibility reported herein should be evaluated further using a longitudinal study design to determine within-person changes in aging.

Multiple sclerosis lesion geometry in quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) and phase imaging

PURPOSE

To demonstrate the phase and quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) patterns created by solid and shell spatial distributions of magnetic susceptibility in multiple sclerosis (MS) lesions.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Numerical simulations and experimental phantoms of solid- and shell-shaped magnetic susceptibility sources were used to generate magnitude, phase, and QSM images. Imaging of 20 consecutive MS patients was also reviewed for this Institutional Review Board (IRB)-approved MRI study to identify the appearance of solid and shell lesions on phase and QSM images.

RESULTS

Solid and shell susceptibility sources were correctly reconstructed in QSM images, while the corresponding phase images depicted both geometries with shell-like patterns, making the underlying susceptibility distribution difficult to determine using phase alone. In MS patients, of the 60 largest lesions identified on T2 , 30 lesions were detected on both QSM and phase, of which 83% were solid and 17% were shells on QSM, and of which 30% were solid and 70% were shell on phase. Of the 21 shell-like lesions on phase, 76% appeared solid on QSM, 24% appeared shell on QSM. Of the five shell-like lesions on QSM, all were shell-like on phase.

CONCLUSION

QSM accurately depicts both solid and shell patterns of magnetic susceptibility, while phase imaging fails to distinguish them.

Reproducibility of quantitative susceptibility mapping in the brain at two field strengths from two vendors

PURPOSE

To assess the reproducibility of brain quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) in healthy subjects and in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) on 1.5 and 3T scanners from two vendors.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Ten healthy volunteers and 10 patients were scanned twice on a 3T scanner from one vendor. The healthy volunteers were also scanned on a 1.5T scanner from the same vendor and on a 3T scanner from a second vendor. Similar imaging parameters were used for all scans. QSM images were reconstructed using a recently developed nonlinear morphology-enabled dipole inversion (MEDI) algorithm with L1 regularization. Region-of-interest (ROI) measurements were obtained for 20 major brain structures. Reproducibility was evaluated with voxel-wise and ROI-based Bland-Altman plots and linear correlation analysis.

RESULTS

ROI-based QSM measurements showed excellent correlation between all repeated scans (correlation coefficient R ≥ 0.97), with a mean difference of less than 1.24 ppb (healthy subjects) and 4.15 ppb (patients), and 95% limits of agreements of within -25.5 to 25.0 ppb (healthy subjects) and -35.8 to 27.6 ppb (patients). Voxel-based QSM measurements had a good correlation (0.64 ≤ R ≤ 0.88) and limits of agreements of -60 to 60 ppb or less.

CONCLUSION

Brain QSM measurements have good interscanner and same-scanner reproducibility for healthy and MS subjects, respectively, on the systems evaluated in this study.

Simultaneous phase unwrapping and removal of chemical shift (SPURS) using graph cuts: application in quantitative susceptibility mapping

Quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) is a magnetic resonance imaging technique that reveals tissue magnetic susceptibility. It relies on having a high quality field map, typically acquired with a relatively long echo spacing and long final TE. Applications of QSM outside the brain require the removal of fat contributions to the total signal phase. However, current water/fat separation methods applied on typical data acquired for QSM suffer from three issues: inadequacy when using large echo spacing, over-smoothing of the field maps and high computational cost. In this paper, the general phase wrap and chemical shift problem is formulated using a single species fitting and is solved using graph cuts with conditional jump moves. This method is referred as simultaneous phase unwrapping and removal of chemical shift (SPURS). The result from SPURS is then used as the initial guess for a voxel-wise iterative decomposition of water and fat with echo asymmetric and least-squares estimation (IDEAL). The estimated 3-D field maps are used to compute QSM in body regions outside of the brain, such as the liver. Experimental results show substantial improvements in field map estimation, water/fat separation and reconstructed QSM compared to two existing water/fat separation methods on 1.5T and 3T magnetic resonance human data with long echo spacing and rapid field map variation.

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.

How accurate is MOLLI T1 mapping in vivo? Validation by spin echo methods

T₁ mapping is a promising quantitative tool for assessing diffuse cardiomyopathies. The purpose of this study is to quantify in vivo accuracy of the Modified Look-Locker Inversion Recovery (MOLLI) cardiac T₁ mapping sequence against the spin echo gold standard, which has not been done previously. T₁ accuracy of MOLLI was determined by comparing with the gold standard inversion recovery spin echo sequence in the calf muscle, and with a rapid inversion recovery fast spin echo sequence in the heart. T₁ values were obtained with both conventional MOLLI fitting and MOLLI fitting with inversion efficiency correction. In the calf (n = 6), conventional MOLLI fitting produced inconsistent T₁ values with error ranging from 8.0% at 90° to 17.3% at 30°. Modified MOLLI fitting with inversion efficiency correction improved error to under 7.4% at all flip angles. In the heart (n = 5), modified MOLLI fitting with inversion correction reduced T₁ error to 5.5% from 14.0% by conventional MOLLI fitting. This study shows that conventional MOLLI fitting can lead to significant in vivo T₁ errors when not accounting for the lower adiabatic inversion efficiency often experienced in vivo.

Joint estimation of chemical shift and quantitative susceptibility mapping (chemical QSM)

PURPOSE

The purpose of this work is to address the unsolved problem of quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) of tissue with fat where both fat and susceptibility change the MR signal phase.

THEORY AND METHODS

The chemical shift of fat was treated as an additional unknown and was estimated jointly with susceptibility to provide the best data fitting using an automated and iterative algorithm. A simplified susceptibility model was used to calculate an updated value of the chemical shift based on the local magnetic field in each iteration. Numerical simulation, phantom experiments and in vivo imaging were performed. Artifacts were assessed by measuring the susceptibility variance in uniform regions. Accuracy was assessed by comparison with ground truth in simulation, and using a susceptibility matching approach in phantom.

RESULTS

Using the proposed method, artifacts on the QSM image were markedly suppressed in all tested datasets compared with results generated using fixed chemical shifts. Accuracy of the estimated susceptibility was also improved in numerical simulation and phantom experiments.

CONCLUSION

A joint estimation of fat content and magnetic susceptibility using an iterative chemical shift update was shown to improve image quality and accuracy on QSM images.

Quantification of cerebral perfusion using dynamic quantitative susceptibility mapping

PURPOSE

The purpose of this study is to develop a dynamic quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) technique with sufficient temporal resolution to map contrast agent concentration in cerebral perfusion imaging.

METHODS

The dynamic QSM used a multiecho three-dimensional (3D) spoiled gradient echo golden angle interleaved spiral sequence during contrast bolus injection. Four-dimensional (4D) space-time resolved magnetic field reconstruction was performed using the temporal resolution acceleration with constrained evolution reconstruction method. Deconvolution of the gadolinium-induced field was performed at each time point with the morphology enabled dipole inversion method to generate a 4D gadolinium concentration map, from which three-dimensional spatial distributions of cerebral blood volume and cerebral blood flow were computed.

RESULTS

Initial in vivo brain imaging demonstrated the feasibility of using dynamic QSM for generating quantitative 4D contrast agent maps and imaging three-dimensional perfusion. The cerebral blood flow obtained with dynamic QSM agreed with that obtained using arterial spin labeling.

CONCLUSION

Dynamic QSM can be used to perform 4D mapping of contrast agent concentration in contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging. The perfusion parameters derived from this 4D contrast agent concentration map were in good agreement with those obtained using arterial spin labeling.

Background field removal by solving the Laplacian boundary value problem

The removal of the background magnetic field is a critical step in generating phase images and quantitative susceptibility maps, which have recently been receiving increasing attention. Although it is known that the background field satisfies Laplace's equation, the boundary values of the background field for the region of interest have not been explicitly addressed in the existing methods, and they are not directly available from MRI measurements. In this paper, we assume simple boundary conditions and remove the background field by explicitly solving the boundary value problems of Laplace's or Poisson's equation. The proposed Laplacian boundary value (LBV) method for background field removal retains data near the boundary and is computationally efficient. Tests on a numerical phantom and an experimental phantom showed that LBV was more accurate than two existing methods.

Self-gated free-breathing 3D coronary CINE imaging with simultaneous water and fat visualization

The aim of this study was to develop a novel technique for acquiring 3-dimensional (3D) coronary CINE magnetic resonance images with both water and fat visualization during free breathing and without external respiratory or cardiac gating. The implemented multi-echo hybrid 3D radial balanced Steady-State Free Precession (SSFP) sequence has an efficient data acquisition and is robust against motion. The k-space center along the slice encoding direction was repeatedly acquired to derive both respiratory and cardiac self-gating signals without an increase in scan time, enabling a free-breathing acquisition. The multi-echo acquisition allowed image reconstruction with water-fat separation, providing improved visualization of the coronary artery lumen. Ten healthy subjects were imaged successfully at 1.5 T, achieving a spatial resolution of 1.0×1.0×3.0 mm³ and scan time of about 5 minutes. The proposed imaging technique provided coronary vessel depiction comparable to that obtained with conventional breath-hold imaging and navigator gated free-breathing imaging.