University of Utah Research Foundation

The United States of America, As Represented by the Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services

Eun-Kee Jeong

Dennis Lee Parker

Evgueni Kholmovski

Kim Seong-Eun Choi

Xianfeng Shi

Kim Seongeun Choi

Methods and apparatus for operating an MRI system is provided. The disclosure provides a diffusion-prepared driven-equilibrium preparation for an imaging volume and acquiring 3-dimensional k-space data from said prepared volume by a plurality of echoplanar readouts of stimulated echoes. An excitation radio-frequency signal and first and second inversion RF signals are provided to define a field-of-view (FOV).

Systems and methods for magnetic resonance imaging

The disclosure provides echo planar imaging (EPI) based single-shot imaging techniques for acquiring spin-EPI (SEPI) and stimulated-EPI after a single RF excitation. In certain embodiments, the SEPI and STEPI acquired in a singleshot are used to compute a Tmap in realtime, which can be used for realtime monitoring of concentrations of paramagnetic-ion based contrast agent in dynamic contrast enhanced MRI. In certain embodiments, Bfield inhomogeneity correction is provided for the STEPI. In certain embodiments, a gradient-EPI (GEPI) is also acquired after the single RF excitation providing singleshot SEPI, GEPI and STEPI acquisition. In certain embodiments, the phase difference between the SEPI and GEPI is used to compute temperature-dependent chemical shift in a subject in realtime. The temperature-dependent chemical shift can be used to monitor temperature changes in the subject in realtime, for example, during a heat treatment to control the dosage of heat energy.

Simultaneous acquisitions of spin- and stimulated-echo planar imaging

Growing community of inventors

North Salt Lake, UT, United States of America

Eun-Kee Jeong