Single-point dixon method for fat-water separation in chemical exchange saturation transfer magnetic resonance imaging

Abstract

The invention provides for a medical imaging system (). The medical imaging system comprises a processor (). Execution of machine executable instructions () causes the processor to: receive () magnetic resonance imaging data () comprising a Z-spectrum acquisition () for a set of saturation frequency offsets () and at least one reference saturation frequency offset (); reconstruct () saturation frequency offset complex image data (); reconstruct () a B0 map (), a water image (), and a fat image () according to a Dixon-type magnetic resonance imaging protocol; calculate () a water phase angle () using the water image and/or the fat image; calculate () rotated complex image data () by rotating the phase of the saturation frequency offset complex image data such that the complex water signal is aligned with a real axis for each voxel; perform () a B0 correction by calculating shifted complex image data (); calculate () a frequency dependent phase angle () descriptive of a phase angle between the complex water signal and the complex fat signal for each of the set of saturation frequency offsets using a fat signal model comprising at least two fat species; calculate () a residual fat component correction factor () by projecting the complex fat signal onto the real axis for each of the set of saturation frequency offsets; and calculate () corrected water Z-spectrum image data () by subtracting the residual fat component correction factor for each of the set of saturation frequency offsets from the real component of the shifted complex image data.