No Arabic abstract
Wave-CAIPI MR imaging is a 3D imaging technique which can uniformize the g-factor maps and significantly reduce g-factor penalty at high acceleration factors. But it is time-consuming to calculate the average g-factor penalty for optimizing the parameters of Wave-CAIPI. In this paper, we propose a novel fast calculation method to calculate the average g-factor in Wave-CAIPI imaging. Wherein, the g-factor value in the arbitrary (e.g. the central) position is separately calculated and then approximated to the average g-factor using Taylor linear approximation. The verification experiments have demonstrated that the average g-factors of Wave-CAIPI imaging which are calculated by the proposed method is consistent with the previous time-consuming theoretical calculation method and the conventional pseudo multiple replica method. Comparison experiments show that the proposed method is averagely about 1000 times faster than the previous theoretical calculation method and about 1700 times faster than the conventional pseudo multiple replica method.
Purpose: Dual-energy CT (DECT) has been shown to derive stopping power ratio (SPR) map with higher accuracy than conventional single energy CT (SECT) by obtaining the energy dependence of photon interactions. However, DECT is not as widely implemented as SECT in proton radiation therapy simulation. This work presents a learning-based method to synthetize DECT images from SECT for proton radiation therapy. Methods: The proposed method uses a residual attention generative adversarial network. Residual blocks with attention gates were used to force the model focus on the difference between DECT maps and SECT images. To evaluate the accuracy of the method, we retrospectively investigated 20 head-and-neck cancer patients with both DECT and SECT scans available. The high and low energy CT images acquired from DECT acted as learning targets in the training process for SECT datasets and were evaluated against results from the proposed method using a leave-one-out cross-validation strategy. To evaluate our method in the context of a practical application, we generated SPR maps from sDECT using physics-based dual-energy stoichiometric method and compared the maps to those generated from DECT. Results: The synthesized DECT images showed an average mean absolute error around 30 Hounsfield Unit (HU) across the whole-body volume. The corresponding SPR maps generated from synthetic DECT showed an average normalized mean square error of about 1% with reduced noise level and artifacts than those from original DECT. Conclusions: The accuracy of the synthesized DECT image by our machine-learning-based method was evaluated on head and neck patient, and potential feasibility for proton treatment planning and dose calculation was shown by generating SPR map using the synthesized DECT.
Optical tomographic cross-sectional images of biological samples were made possible by interferometric imaging techniques such as Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT). Owing to its unprecedented view of the sample, OCT has become a gold standard, namely for human retinal imaging in the clinical environment. In this Letter, we present Optical Incoherence Tomography (OIT): a completely digital method extending the possibility to generate tomographic retinal cross-sections to non-interferometric imaging systems such as en-face AO-ophthalmoscopes. We demonstrate that OIT can be applied to different imaging modalities using back-scattered and multiply-scattered light including systems without inherent optical sectioning. We show that OIT can be further used to guide focus position when the user is blind focusing, allowing precise imaging of translucent retinal structures, the vascular plexuses and the retinal pigment epithelium using respectively split detection, motion contrast, and autofluorescence techniques.
In this work, we propose a free-breathing magnetic resonance fingerprinting method that can be used to obtain $B_1^+$-robust quantitative maps of the abdomen in a clinically acceptable time. A three-dimensional MR fingerprinting sequence with a radial stack-of-stars trajectory was implemented for quantitative abdominal imaging. The k-space acquisition ordering was adjusted to improve motion-robustness. The flip angle pattern was optimized using the Cramer-Rao Lower Bound, and the encoding efficiency of sequences with 300, 600, 900, and 1800 flip angles was evaluated. To validate the sequence, a movable multicompartment phantom was developed. Reference multiparametric maps were acquired under stationary conditions using a previously validated MRF method. Periodic motion of the phantom was used to investigate the motion-robustness of the proposed sequence. The best performing sequence length (600 flip angles) was used to image the abdomen during a free-breathing volunteer scan. When using a series of 600 or more flip angles, the estimated $T_1$ values in the stationary phantom showed good agreement with the reference scan. Phantom experiments revealed that motion-related artefacts can appear in the quantitative maps, and confirmed that a motion-robust k-space ordering is essential in preventing these artefacts. The in vivo scan demonstrated that the proposed sequence can produce clean parameter maps while the subject breathes freely. Using this sequence, it is possible to generate $B_1^+$-robust quantitative maps of proton density, $T_1$, and $B_1^+$ under free-breathing conditions at a clinically usable resolution within 5 minutes.
We have recently demonstrated supervised deep learning methods for rapid generation of radiofrequency pulses in magnetic resonance imaging (https://doi.org/10.1002/mrm.27740, https://doi.org/10.1002/mrm.28667). Unlike the previous iterative optimization approaches, deep learning methods generate a pulse using a fixed number of floating-point operations - this is important in MRI, where patient-specific pulses preferably must be produced in real time. However, deep learning requires vast training libraries, which must be generated using the traditional methods, e.g. iterative quantum optimal control methods. Those methods are usually variations of gradient descent, and the calculation of the fidelity gradient of the performance metric with respect to the pulse waveform can be the most numerically intensive step. In this communication, we explore various ways in which the calculation of fidelity gradients in quantum optimal control theory may be accelerated. Four optimization avenues are explored: truncated commutator series expansions at zeroth and first order, a novel midpoint truncation scheme at first order, and the exact complex-step method. For the spin systems relevant to MRI, the first-order truncation is found to be sufficiently accurate, but also up to five times faster than the machine precision gradient. This makes the generation of training databases for the machine learning methods considerably more realistic.
Purpose: Hyperpolarized imaging experiments have conflicting requirements of high spatial, temporal, and spectral resolution. Spectral-Spatial RF excitation has been shown to form an attractive magnetization-efficient method for hyperpolarized imaging, but the optimum readout strategy is not yet known. Methods: In this work we propose a novel 3D hybrid-shot spiral sequence which features two constant density regions that permit the retrospective reconstruction of either high spatial or high temporal resolution images post hoc, (adaptive spatiotemporal imaging) allowing greater flexibility in acquisition and reconstruction. Results: We have implemented this sequence, both via simulation and on a pre-clinical scanner, to demonstrate its feasibility, in both a 1H phantom and with hyperpolarized 13C pyruvate in vivo. Conclusion: This sequence forms an attractive method for acquiring hyperpolarized imaging datasets, providing adaptive spatiotemporal imaging to ameliorate the conflict of spatial and temporal resolution, with significant potential for clinical translation.