Magnetic resonance field fingerprinting.

PURPOSE

To develop and evaluate the magnetic resonance field fingerprinting method that simultaneously generates T , T , B , and maps from a single continuous measurement.

METHODS

An encoding pattern was designed to integrate true fast imaging with steady-state precession (TrueFISP), fast imaging with steady-state precession (FISP), and fast low-angle shot (FLASH) sequence segments with varying flip angles, radio frequency (RF) phases, TEs, and gradient moments in a continuous acquisition. A multistep matching process was introduced that includes steps for integrated spiral deblurring and the correction of intravoxel phase dispersion. The method was evaluated in phantoms as well as in vivo studies in brain and lower abdomen.

RESULTS

Simultaneous measurement of T , T , B , and is achieved with T and T subsequently being less afflicted by B and variations. Phantom results demonstrate the stability of generated parameter maps. Higher undersampling factors and spatial resolution can be achieved with the proposed method as compared with solely FISP-based magnetic resonance fingerprinting. High-resolution B maps can potentially be further used as diagnostic information.

CONCLUSION

The proposed magnetic resonance field fingerprinting method can estimate T , T , B , and maps accurately in phantoms, in the brain, and in the lower abdomen.