System and method for magnetic resonance fingerprinting with relaxation and diffusion data acquisition

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11768264-B2
Application number	US-202217661736-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 2, 2022
Priority date	Apr 30, 2021
Publication date	Sep 26, 2023
Grant date	Sep 26, 2023

Abstract

A method for multi-dimensional, relaxation-diffusion magnetic resonance fingerprinting (MRF) includes performing, using a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system, a pulse sequence that integrates free-waveform b-tensor diffusion encoding into a magnet resonance fingerprinting pulse sequence to perform a multi-dimensional, relaxation-diffusion encoding while acquiring MRF signal evolutions, processing, using a processor, the acquired MRF signal evolutions to determine at least one relaxation parameter and at least one diffusivity parameter, and generating, using the processor, a report including at least one of the at least one relaxation parameter and the at least diffusivity parameter.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for multi-dimensional, relaxation-diffusion magnetic resonance fingerprinting (MRF), the method comprising:
performing, using a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system, a pulse sequence that integrates free-waveform b-tensor diffusion encoding into a magnet resonance fingerprinting pulse sequence to perform a multi-dimensional, relaxation-diffusion encoding while acquiring MRF signal evolutions;
processing, using a processor, the acquired MRF signal evolutions to determine at least one relaxation parameter and at least one diffusivity parameter; and
generating, using the processor, a report including at least one of the at least one relaxation parameter and the at least diffusivity parameter.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one relaxation parameter includes at least one of T 1 , T 2 , or M 0 .

3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein processing the acquired MRF signal evolutions to determine the at least one relaxation parameter comprises:
accessing, using the processor, an MRF dictionary; and
comparing, using the processor, the acquired MRF signal evolutions to the MRF dictionary to identify at least one of T 1 , T 2 , M 0 , for the MRF signal evolutions.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one diffusivity parameter includes at least one of mean diffusivity (MD), apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), fractional anisotropy (FA), microscopic fraction anisotropy (FA), axon diameter, cell density, tissue partial volume fractions.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein processing the acquired MRF signal evolutions to determine the at least one diffusivity parameter comprises:
accessing, using the processor, an MRF dictionary;
comparing, using the processor, the acquired MRF signal evolutions to the MRF dictionary to identify diffusivity for the MRF signal evolutions; and
processing, using the processor, the diffusivity to identify the at least one diffusivity parameter for the acquired MRF signal evolutions.

6. The method according to claim 5 , wherein the at least one diffusivity parameter includes at least one of mean diffusivity (MD), apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), fractional anisotropy (FA), microscopic fraction anisotropy (μFA), axon diameter, cell density, and tissue partial volume fractions.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the free-waveform b-tensor diffusion encoding effectuates multiple geometries of b-tensor gradient encoding.

8. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the multiple geometries of b-tensor gradient encoding include linear tensor encoding and spherical tensor encoding.

9. A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system comprising:
a magnet system configured to generate a polarizing magnetic field about a portion of a subject positioned;
a magnetic gradient system including a plurality of magnetic gradient coils configured to apply at least one magnetic gradient field to the polarizing magnetic field;
a radio frequency (RF) system configured to apply an RF excitation field to the subject, and to receive magnetic resonance signals from the subject using a coil array;
at least one processor configured to:
perform a pulse sequence that integrates free-waveform b-tensor diffusion encoding into a magnet resonance fingerprinting pulse sequence to perform a multi-dimensional, relaxation-diffusion encoding while acquiring MRF signal evolutions; and
process the MRF signal evolutions to determine at least one relaxation parameter and at least one diffusivity parameter.

10. The method according to claim 9 , wherein the at least one relaxation parameter includes at least one of T 1 , T 2 , or M 0 .

11. The MRI system according to claim 10 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
access an MRF dictionary; and
compare the acquired MRF signal evolutions to the MRF dictionary to identify at least one of T 1 , T 2 , or M 0 for the MRF signal evolutions.

12. The MRI system according to claim 9 , wherein the processor is further configured to generate a report including at least one of the at least one relaxation parameter and at least one diffusivity parameter.

13. The MRI system according to claim 9 , wherein the at least one diffusivity parameter includes at least one of mean diffusivity (MD), apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), fractional anisotropy (FA), microscopic fraction anisotropy (μFA), axon diameter, cell density, and tissue partial volume fractions.

14. The MRI system according to claim 9 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
access an MRF dictionary;
compare the acquired MRF signal evolutions to the MRF dictionary to identify diffusivity for the MRF signal evolutions; and
process the diffusivity to identify the at least one diffusivity parameter for the acquired MRF signal evolutions.

15. The MRI system according to claim 14 , wherein the at least one diffusivity parameter includes at least one of mean diffusivity (MD), apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), fractional anisotropy (FA), microscopic fraction anisotropy (μFA), axon diameter, cell density, and tissue partial volume fractions.

16. The MRI system according to claim 9 , wherein the free-waveform b-tensor diffusion encoding effectuates multiple geometries of b-tensor gradient encoding.

17. The MRI system according to claim 16 , wherein the multiple geometries of b-tensor gradient encoding include linear tensor encoding and spherical tensor encoding.

Assignees

• Univ Case Western Reserve
• Univ College Cardiff Consultants Ltd
• Univ College Cardiff Consultants Limited Cardiff

Inventors

• Ma Dan
• Griswold Mark A
• Jones Derek
• Afzali Maryam
• Mueller Lars

Classifications

• G01R33/50 Primary

  based on the determination of relaxation times {, e.g. T1 measurement by IR sequences; T2 measurement by multiple-echo sequences} · CPC title

• G01R33/5608

  Data processing and visualization specially adapted for MR, e.g. for feature analysis and pattern recognition on the basis of measured MR data, segmentation of measured MR data, edge contour detection on the basis of measured MR data, for enhancing measured MR data in terms of signal-to-noise ratio by means of noise filtering or apodization, for enhancing measured MR data in terms of resolution by means for deblurring, windowing, zero filling, or generation of gray-scaled images, colour-coded images or images displaying vectors instead of pixels (image data processing or generation, in general G06T) · CPC title

• G01R33/56341

  Diffusion imaging · CPC title

• G01R33/561

  by reduction of the scanning time, i.e. fast acquiring systems, e.g. using echo-planar pulse sequences · CPC title