MRI Myelin Image Generation Using Quantitative Relaxation Times
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for generating myelin images using MRI struggle with inconsistent contrast due to varying pixel values in T1-weighted and T2-weighted images, which are affected by different imaging conditions, leading to inconsistent myelin image quality.
Innovation Solution
An MRI system and image processing apparatus that measure and reconstruct echo signals, estimate quantitative values such as longitudinal and transverse relaxation times, and generate myelin images using these values as variables, ensuring stable contrast regardless of imaging conditions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If T1-weighted and T2-weighted images are used to generate myelin images, then myelin images can be easily obtained, but the contrast of the myelin images is not constant due to varying pixel values depending on imaging conditions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the parameters used for myelin image generation from direct pixel values of T1-weighted and T2-weighted images to quantitative values (T1 relaxation time, T2 relaxation time) obtained through computational analysis. This parameter transformation eliminates the influence of imaging conditions such as TE and TR, ensuring constant contrast across different imaging scenarios.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces computational analysis as an intermediary step between acquiring T1-weighted and T2-weighted images and generating the final myelin image. This intermediary process extracts quantitative relaxation times that serve as stable intermediaries, decoupling the final myelin image contrast from variations in imaging conditions.
2Manufacturing precision
If histogram-based contrast adjustment is applied to T1-weighted and T2-weighted images, then contrast can be standardized, but myelin images from different imaging conditions still show inconsistency
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of adjusting contrast through histogram manipulation of pixel values, the patent changes the fundamental parameters from which myelin images are derived. By computing T1 and T2 relaxation times from multiple images with different imaging conditions, the method obtains parameters that are inherently independent of specific imaging settings, ensuring consistency across different conditions.
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
The solution enables the generation of myelin images with consistent contrast, effectively addressing the variability in existing methods by using quantitative value distributions and signal functions to stabilize image quality across different imaging conditions.
Implementation Method 1
A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) apparatus is a medical diagnostic imaging apparatus that obtains an image of a subject by causing nuclear magnetic resonance in a specific nucleus, typically a hydrogen nucleus, contained in a tissue of the subject
Implementation Method 2
a measurement unit that measures an echo signal generated from a subject by applying a high-frequency magnetic field and a gradient magnetic field to the subject placed in a static magnetic field
Data Source
AI summary
A myelin image is generated with a stable contrast regardless of an imaging condition with an MRI apparatus that measures an echo signal generated from a subject by applying a high-frequency magnetic field and a gradient magnetic field to the subject placed in a static magnetic field according to a predetermined imaging sequence. A reconstructed image is obtained from the echo signal. A distribution of a quantitative value of the subject is estimated using a plurality of the reconstructed images, each of which is obtained by a plurality of types of imaging having different imaging conditions of the imaging sequence, and a signal function defining a relationship between the quantitative value of the subject and a signal value of the reconstructed image. An image generation unit generates an arbitrary image from the distribution of the quantitative value.