Methods for Multi-Parametric Quantitative MRI

Abstract

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the primary modality for the imaging of soft tissues (e.g. brain, muscle, liver). Therefore, it is an essential radiological tool for diagnosis and surgical planning. The contrast in MR images is due to tissues responding differently to the magnetic fields generated by the scan-ning system. This response can be de-scribed by the physical properties of the tissue (e.g. proton density, magnetic relaxation) and the magnetic fields. These physical properties are represent-ed by multiple parameters that can be estimated through quantitative MRI (qMRI) methods. The parameters are considered more reproducible than con-ventional MR images, which simplifies the comparison of MR data from differ-ent subjects or scanning systems. Esti-mating multiple parameters simultane-ously is needed to reduce error from system imperfections and deliver accu-rate estimates of the physical tissue pa-rameters...