Abstract: A method of obtaining multiple MRI contrasts of a subject comprising the steps of concurrently acquiring an MRSI and fMRI data in the same scan.

Abstract: A method for the compensation of magnetic field inhomogeneity in magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging comprising the steps of using dynamic k-space expansion in combination with parallel imaging.

Abstract: A system and methods for high-speed functional magnetic resonance imaging using multi-slab echo-volumar imaging (EVI), specifically a combination of multi-slab excitation and single-shot 3D encoding with parallel imaging to reduce geometrical image distortion and blurring, and to increase blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) sensitivity compared to conventional echo-planar imaging (EPI).

Abstract: Functional MRI (fMRI) methods are presented for utilizing a magnetic resonance tomograph to map connectivity between brain areas in the resting state in real-time without the use of regression of confounding signal changes. They encompass: (a) iterative computation of the sliding window correlation between the signal time courses in a seed region and each voxel of an fMRI image series, (b) Fisher Z-transformation of each correlation map, (c) computation of a running mean and a running standard deviation of the Z-maps across a second sliding window to produce a series of meta mean maps and a series of meta standard deviation maps, and (d) thresholding of the meta maps. This methodology can be combined with regression of confounding signals within the sliding window. It is also applicable to task-based real-time fMRI, if the location of at least one task-activated voxel is known.

Abstract: Disclosed are MR Spectroscopy and MR Spectroscopic Imaging (MRSI) methods comprising the sequential steps of water suppression, spatial prelocalization and spatial-spectral encoding, wherein the water suppression is modified to additionally measure and correct the frequency drift, the change in magnetic field inhomogeneity in the volume of interest, and the object movement. By inserting between the water suppression RF pulse and the dephasing gradient pulses either a phase sensitive MRI encoding module, or a 1D, 2D or 3D high-speed MRSI encoding module with simultaneous acquisition of the decaying water signal it is possible to measure frequency drift, magnetic field inhomogeneity and object movement. This information is used to dynamically change the synthesizer frequency of the scanner, the shim settings and to rotate the encoded k-space.

Abstract: A system and methods for imaging a patient organ. The system includes a MRI imaging apparatus communicating with a memory and processor. The method aligns the organ with a standardized organ, and includes a step of spatially normalizing the standardized organ to the patient organ. The method also provides optimized slices of the standardized organ and translates optimized slices of standardized organ into optimized slices of the patient organ. The method images the patient organ according to the optimized slices of the patient organ.

Abstract: Disclosed are MR Spectroscopy and MR Spectroscopic Imaging (MRSI) methods comprising the sequential steps of water suppression, spatial prelocalization and spatial-spectral encoding, wherein the water suppression is modified to additionally measure and correct the frequency drift, the change in magnetic field inhomogeneity in the volume of interest, and the object movement. By inserting between the water suppression RF pulse and the dephasing gradient pulses either a phase sensitive MRI encoding module, or a 1D, 2D or 3D high-speed MRSI encoding module with simultaneous acquisition of the decaying water signal it is possible to measure frequency drift, magnetic field inhomogeneity and object movement. This information is used to dynamically change the synthesizer frequency of the scanner, the shim settings and to rotate the encoded k-space.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) method, specifically to a magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging method with up to three spatial dimensions and one spectral dimension. Interleaving dynamically switched magnetic field gradients into the spectroscopic encoding scheme enables multi-region shimming in a single shot to compensate the spatially varying spectral line broadening resulting from local magnetic field gradients. The method also employs sparse spectral sampling with controlled spectral aliasing and nonlinear sampling density to maximize encoding speed, data sampling efficiency and sensitivity.

Abstract: The present invention includes a method for parallel magnetic resonance imaging termed Superresolution Sensitivity Encoding (SURE-SENSE) and its application to functional and spectroscopic magnetic resonance imaging. SURE-SENSE acceleration is performed by acquiring only the central region of k-space instead of increasing the sampling distance over the complete k-space matrix and reconstruction is explicitly based on intra-voxel coil sensitivity variation. SURE-SENSE image reconstruction is formulated as a superresolution imaging problem where a collection of low resolution images acquired with multiple receiver coils are combined into a single image with higher spatial resolution using coil sensitivity maps acquired with high spatial resolution. The effective acceleration of conventional gradient encoding is given by the gain in spatial resolution Since SURE-SENSE is an ill-posed inverse problem, Tikhonov regularization is employed to control noise amplification.

Abstract: The present invention has a magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) method that allows collecting a complete spectroscopic image with one spectral dimension and up to three spatial dimensions in a single signal excitation. The method employs echo-planar spatial-spectral encoding combined with phase encoding interleaved into the echo-planar readout train and partial parallel imaging to reconstruct spatially localized absorption mode spectra. This approach enables flexible tradeoff between gradient and RF encoding to maximize spectral width and spatial resolution. Partial parallel imaging (e.g. SENSE or GRAPPA) is employed with this methodology to accelerate the phase encoding dimension. A preferred implementation is with the recently developed superresolution parallel MRI method, which accelerates along both the readout and phase encoding dimensions and thus enables particularly large spectral width and spatial resolution.

Abstract: This invention relates to localized magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) and to magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) of the proton NMR signal, specifically to a magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) method to measure a single volume of interest and to a magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging method with at least one spectral dimension and up to three spatial dimensions. MRS and MRSI are sensitive to movement of the object to be imaged and to frequency drifts during the scan that may arise from scanner instability, field drift, respiration, and shim coil heating due to gradient switching. Inter-scan and intra-scan movement leads to line broadening and changes in spectral pattern secondary to changes in partial volume effects in localized MRS. In MRSI movement leads to ghosting artifacts across the entire spectroscopic image. For both MRS an MRSI movement changes the magnetic field inhomogeneity, which requires dynamic reshimming.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) method, specifically to a magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging method with up to three spatial dimensions and one spectral dimension. Interleaving dynamically switched magnetic field gradients into the spectroscopic encoding scheme enables multi-region shimming in a single shot to compensate the spatially varying spectral line broadening resulting from local magnetic field gradients. The method also employs sparse spectral sampling with controlled spectral aliasing and nonlinear sampling density to maximize encoding speed, data sampling efficiency and sensitivity.

Abstract: The invention relates to a measuring device which comprises at least one recording means for recording measurement signals, and a transformation means for transforming the measurement signals into digital measurement data. According to the invention, the measuring device is characterized in that the recording means and/or the transformation means are designed in such a way that they record measurement signals with a different resolution at different times and/or at different locations and/or they transform the measurement signals differently.

Abstract: In a computer for evaluating signals from nuclear magnetic resonance tomography and a tomograph using such a computer, the neuronal activity measured during a nuclear magnetic resonance tomographic examination follows a protocol, which reproduces the temporal sequence of stimuli. During a correlation analysis, the sensitivity of known means to changes in the signal-response form normally decreases with each activation cycle. According to the invention, better evaluation results can be achieved in the correlation analysis by using a constant number of n data values in a correlation analysis employing a sliding-window technique. As the data measurement progresses, the oldest value is continuously disposed of and the most recent data value utilized in the calculation.

Abstract: A method and system for providing prelocalization of a volume of interest and for rapidly acquiring a data set for generating spectroscopic images. Spatial prelocalization of a volume of interest is achieved by providing a presuppression sequence before a stimulated echo (STE) sequence and a suppression sequence during the mixing time (TM) interval of the STE sequence. The presuppression sequence includes a spatial suppression sequence to selectively saturate slices that intersect the plane selected by the STE sequence in order to define a boundary for the volume of interest, and this spatial suppression sequence is substantially repeated during the TM interval of the STE sequence. Spectroscopic imaging data is acquired by an oversampled echo planar spatial-spectral imaging sequence in which the gradient reversal frequency is a integer factor of n greater than the gradient reversal frequency required to sample the spectral width.

Abstract: A method and system for providing prelocalization of a volume of interest and for rapidly acquiring a data set for generating spectroscopic images. Spatial prelocalization of a volume of interest is achieved by providing a presuppression sequence before a stimulated echo (STE) sequence and a suppression sequence during the mixing time (TM) interval of the STE sequence. The presuppression sequence includes a spatial suppression sequence to selectively saturate slices that intersect the plane selected by the STE sequence in order to define a boundary for the volume of interest, and this spatial suppression sequence is substantially repeated during the TM interval of the STE sequence. Spectroscopic imaging data is acquired by an oversampled echo planar spatial-spectral imaging sequence in which the gradient reversal frequency is a integer factor of n greater than the gradient reversal frequency required to sample the spectral width.

Abstract: A method and system for providing prelocalization of a volume of interest and for rapidly acquiring a data set for generating spectroscopic images. Spatial prelocalization of a volume of interest is achieved by providing a presuppression sequence before a stimulated echo (STE) sequence and a suppression sequence during the mixing time (TM) interval of the STE sequence. The presuppression sequence includes a spatial suppression sequence to selectively saturate slices that intersect the plane selected by the STE sequence in order to define a boundary for the volume of interest, and this spatial suppression sequence is substantially repeated during the TM interval of the STE sequence. Spectroscopic imaging data is acquired by an oversampled echo planar spatial-spectral imaging sequence in which the gradient reversal frequency is a integer factor of n greater than the gradient reversal frequency required to sample the spectral width.