Department of Radiology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 600 Highland Ave, Madison, WI 53792, USA.
Department of Radiology, University of Iowa, 169 Newton Road, Iowa City, IA 52333, USA.
Tomography. 2022 Apr 2;8(2):1005-1023. doi: 10.3390/tomography8020081.
Advances in accelerated magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) continue to push the bounds on achievable spatial and temporal resolution while maintaining a clinically acceptable image quality. Validation tools, including numerical simulations, are needed to characterize the repeatability and reproducibility of such methods for use in quantitative imaging applications. We describe the development of a simulation framework for analyzing and optimizing accelerated MRI acquisition and reconstruction techniques used in dynamic contrast enhanced (DCE) breast imaging. The simulation framework, in the form of a digital reference object (DRO), consists of four modules that control different aspects of the simulation, including the appearance and physiological behavior of the breast tissue as well as the MRI acquisition settings, to produce simulated k-space data for a DCE breast exam. The DRO design and functionality are described along with simulation examples provided to show potential applications of the DRO. The included simulation results demonstrate the ability of the DRO to simulate a variety of effects including the creation of simulated lesions, tissue enhancement modeled by the generalized kinetic model, T1-relaxation, fat signal precession and saturation, acquisition SNR, and changes in temporal resolution.
加速磁共振成像（MRI）的进展不断推动可实现的空间和时间分辨率的极限，同时保持临床可接受的图像质量。需要验证工具，包括数值模拟，以表征此类方法在定量成像应用中的可重复性和再现性。我们描述了一种用于分析和优化用于动态对比增强（DCE）乳腺成像的加速 MRI 采集和重建技术的仿真框架的开发。仿真框架以数字参考对象（DRO）的形式，由四个模块组成，这些模块控制仿真的不同方面，包括乳房组织的外观和生理行为以及 MRI 采集设置，以产生用于 DCE 乳房检查的模拟 k 空间数据。描述了 DRO 的设计和功能，并提供了模拟示例，以展示 DRO 的潜在应用。所包括的仿真结果表明，DRO 能够模拟各种效果，包括创建模拟病变，广义动力学模型建模的组织增强，T1 弛豫，脂肪信号进动和饱和，采集 SNR 以及时间分辨率的变化。
