1D MR Fingerprinting via Pre-calculated Dictionary
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current magnetic resonance fingerprinting techniques are time-consuming and expensive due to voxel-wise analysis, requiring complex hardware and high energy consumption, which limits their application in efficient cancer screening and quantitative large-volume measurements.
Innovation Solution
A magnetic resonance imaging system that performs one-dimensional magnetic resonance fingerprinting using a pre-calculated dictionary and optimized pulse sequences, eliminating the need for in-plane gradients, allowing for fast and sensitive detection of tissue compositions by encoding signals along a single axis with reduced hardware requirements and energy consumption.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If voxel-wise analysis is used in magnetic resonance fingerprinting, then measurement precision is improved, but analysis time increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the three-dimensional imaging space into multiple one-dimensional lines along a selected axis, processing each line independently through fingerprinting analysis. This segmentation allows parallel processing of multiple lines simultaneously, dramatically reducing total analysis time while maintaining voxel-level precision through systematic reconstruction of the full volume from line data.
2Measurement precision
If in-plane gradient coils are used, then spatial encoding precision is improved, but hardware complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and eliminates the requirement for in-plane gradient coils by performing fingerprinting analysis along one-dimensional lines. Spatial encoding is achieved through slice selection gradients and frequency encoding in the single selected direction, removing the need for complex in-plane gradient hardware while maintaining sufficient spatial resolution for tissue composition mapping.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent makes the slice selection gradient coil perform multiple functions: it provides both slice selection and the primary spatial encoding for the fingerprinting analysis. This multi-functionality eliminates the need for separate in-plane gradient coils, reducing hardware complexity while maintaining spatial encoding capability through optimized use of existing gradient infrastructure.
3Measurement precision
If conventional magnetic resonance fingerprinting is used, then tissue characterization accuracy is improved, but energy consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent removes the energy-intensive in-plane gradient switching operations from the conventional fingerprinting sequence by restricting analysis to one-dimensional lines. This extraction of unnecessary gradient operations significantly reduces power consumption while maintaining tissue characterization accuracy through the simplified encoding scheme.
4Measurement precision
If full three-dimensional fingerprinting analysis is used, then measurement precision is improved, but processing speed decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the three-dimensional volume into multiple one-dimensional lines that can be processed independently and in parallel. This segmentation enables significant speedup through parallel computation while maintaining the quantitative accuracy of full 3D analysis by systematically combining results from all processed lines to reconstruct the complete volumetric tissue composition map.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables efficient detection and quantification of tissue types, reducing hardware costs and increasing patient throughput, facilitating early cancer detection and body fat quantification with improved accuracy and reduced complexity.
Implementation Method 1
a magnet for generating a main magnetic field within an imaging zone
Implementation Method 2
a magnetic field gradient generator for generating a gradient magnetic field within the imaging zone, the gradient magnetic field being aligned with a predetermined direction
Implementation Method 3
Magnetic Resonance (MR) fingerprinting is a new technique where a number of RF pulses, distributed in time, are applied such that they cause signals from different materials or tissues to have a unique contribution to the measured MR signal
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention provides for a magnetic resonance imaging system (100) which comprise a magnet (104) and a magnetic field gradient generator (110, 112) for generating a gradient magnetic field within an imaging zone (108). The gradient magnetic field is aligned with a predetermined direction. The magnetic resonance imaging system further comprise a memory (134, 136) for storing machine executable instructions (150, 152, 154), a pre-calculated magnetic resonance fingerprinting dictionary (144), and pulse sequence instructions (140). The pulse sequence instructions cause the magnetic resonance imaging system to acquire the magnetic resonance data according to a magnetic resonance fingerprinting technique. The magnetic resonance fingerprinting technique encodes the magnetic resonance data as slices (125). The pre-calculated magnetic resonance fingerprinting dictionary contains a listing of calculated magnetic resonance signals in response to execution of the pulse sequence instructions for a set of predetermined substances. Execution of the machine executable instructions causes a processor (130) controlling the magnetic resonance imaging system to: acquire (300) the magnetic resonance data by controlling the magnetic resonance imaging system with pulse sequence instructions; divide (302) the magnetic resonance data into a set of slices; calculate (304) the abundance of each of the set of predetermined substances within each of the set of slices by comparing the magnetic resonance data for each of the set of slices with the pre-calculated magnetic resonance fingerprinting dictionary; and calculate (306) amagnetic resonance fingerprint chart by plotting abundance of each of the set of predetermined substances within each of the set of slicesas a function of position along the predetermined direction.