No Arabic abstract
Quantitative myocardial perfusion mapping has advantages over qualitative assessment, including the ability to detect global flow reduction. However, it is not clinically available and remains as a research tool. Building upon the previously described imaging sequence, this paper presents algorithm and implementation of an automated solution for inline perfusion flow mapping with step by step performance characterization. An inline perfusion flow mapping workflow is proposed and demonstrated on normal volunteers. Initial evaluation demonstrates the fully automated proposed solution for the respiratory motion correction, AIF LV mask detection and pixel-wise mapping, from free-breathing myocardial perfusion imaging.
Magnetic resonance $T_2^*$ mapping and quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) provide direct and precise mappings of tissue contrasts. They are widely used to study iron deposition, hemorrhage and calcification in various clinical applications. In practice, the measurements can be undersampled in the $k$-space to reduce the scan time needed for high-resolution 3D maps, and sparse prior on the wavelet coefficients of images can be used to fill in the missing information via compressive sensing. To avoid the extensive parameter tuning process of conventional regularization methods, we adopt a Bayesian approach to perform $T_2^*$ mapping and QSM using approximate message passing (AMP): the sparse prior is enforced through probability distributions, and the distribution parameters can be automatically and adaptively estimated. In this paper we propose a new nonlinear AMP framework that incorporates the mono-exponential decay model, and use it to recover the proton density, the $T_2^*$ map and complex multi-echo images. The QSM can be computed from the multi-echo images subsequently. Experimental results show that the proposed approach successfully recovers $T_2^*$ map and QSM across various sampling rates, and performs much better than the state-of-the-art $l_1$-norm regularization approach.
An end-to-end image analysis pipeline is presented for the abdominal MRI protocol used in the UK Biobank on the first 38,971 participants. Emphasis is on the processing steps necessary to ensure a high-level of data quality and consistency is produced in order to prepare the datasets for downstream quantitative analysis, such as segmentation and parameter estimation. Quality control procedures have been incorporated to detect and, where possible, correct issues in the raw data. Detection of fat-water swaps in the Dixon series is performed by a deep learning model and corrected automatically. Bone joints are predicted using a hybrid atlas-based registration and deep learning model for the shoulders, hips and knees. Simultaneous estimation of proton density fat fraction and transverse relaxivity (R2*) is performed using both the magnitude and phase information for the single-slice multiecho series. Approximately 98.1% of the two-point Dixon acquisitions were successfully processed and passed quality control, with 99.98% of the high-resolution T1-weighted 3D volumes succeeding. Approximately 99.98% of the single-slice multiecho acquisitions covering the liver were successfully processed and passed quality control, with 97.6% of the single-slice multiecho acquisitions covering the pancreas succeeding. At least one fat-water swap was detected in 1.8% of participants. With respect to the bone joints, approximately 3.3% of participants were missing at least one knee joint and 0.8% were missing at least one shoulder joint. For the participants who received both single-slice multiecho acquisition protocols for the liver a systematic difference between the two protocols was identified and modeled using multiple linear regression. The findings presented here will be invaluable for scientists who seek to use image-derived phenotypes from the abdominal MRI protocol.
Recent development of quantitative myocardial blood flow (MBF) mapping allows direct evaluation of absolute myocardial perfusion, by computing pixel-wise flow maps. Clinical studies suggest quantitative evaluation would be more desirable for objectivity and efficiency. Objective assessment can be further facilitated by segmenting the myocardium and automatically generating reports following the AHA model. This will free user interaction for analysis and lead to a one-click solution to improve workflow. This paper proposes a deep neural network based computational workflow for inline myocardial perfusion analysis. Adenosine stress and rest perfusion scans were acquired from three hospitals. Training set included N=1,825 perfusion series from 1,034 patients. Independent test set included 200 scans from 105 patients. Data were consecutively acquired at each site. A convolution neural net (CNN) model was trained to provide segmentation for LV cavity, myocardium and right ventricular by processing incoming 2D+T perfusion Gd series. Model outputs were compared to manual ground-truth for accuracy of segmentation and flow measures derived on global and per-sector basis. The trained models were integrated onto MR scanners for effective inference. Segmentation accuracy and myocardial flow measures were compared between CNN models and manual ground-truth. The mean Dice ratio of CNN derived myocardium was 0.93 +/- 0.04. Both global flow and per-sector values showed no significant difference, compared to manual results. The AHA 16 segment model was automatically generated and reported on the MR scanner. As a result, the fully automated analysis of perfusion flow mapping was achieved. This solution was integrated on the MR scanner, enabling one-click analysis and reporting of myocardial blood flow.
Accurate automatic classification of major tissue classes and the cerebrospinal fluid in pediatric MR scans of early childhood brains remains a challenge. A poor and highly variable grey matter and white matter contrast on T1-weighted MR scans of developing brains complicates the automatic categorization of voxels into major tissue classes using state-of-the-art classification methods (Partial Volume Estimation). Varying intensities across brain tissues and possible tissue artifacts further contribute to misclassification. In order to improve the accuracy of automatic detection of major tissue types and the cerebrospinal fluid in infants brains within the age range from 10 days to 4.5 years, we propose a new classification method based on Kernel Fisher Discriminant Analysis (KFDA) for pattern recognition, combined with an objective structural similarity index (SSIM) for perceptual image quality assessment. The proposed method performs an optimal partitioning of the image domain into subdomains having different average intensity values and relatively homogeneous tissue intensity. In the KFDA-based framework, a complex non-linear structure of grey matter, white matter and cerebrospinal fluid intensity clusters in a 3D (T1W, T2W, PDW)-space is exploited to find an accurate classification. Based on Computer Vision hypothesis that the Human Visual System is an optimal structural information extractor, the SSIM finds a new role in the evaluation of the quality of classification. A comparison with the state-of-the-art Partial Volume Estimation method using the SSIM index demonstrates superior performance of the local KFDA-based algorithm in low contrast subdomains and more accurate detection of grey matter, white matter, and cerebrospinal fluid patterns in the brain volume.
Light-ion microbeams provide a unique opportunity to irradiate biological samples at the cellular level and to investigate radiobiological effects at low doses of high LET ionising radiation. Since 1998 a single-ion irradiation facility has been developed on the focused horizontal microbeam line of the CENBG 3.5 MV Van de Graaff accelerator. This setup delivers in air single protons and alpha particles of a few MeV onto cultured cells, with a spatial resolution of a few microns, allowing subcellular targeting. In this paper, we present results from the use of the GEANT4 toolkit to simulate cellular irradiation with the CENBG microbeam line, from the entrance to the microprobe up to the cellular medium.