Optimization of MR Fingerprinting (MRF) for Quantitative MRI

描述（由申请人提供）：MRI已成为临床医学的关键组成部分，因为它提供了软组织的精美图像，可以对几乎任何疾病过程敏感。然而，越来越清楚的是，目前的MRI模式已经遇到了重大的限制，在许多情况下，这是不可避免的。目前的临床MRI是有效的，但实际上限于通过一系列不同的采集可视化的有限的一组组织特性的定性描述。此外，对人类解释的依赖限制了可以在任何给定exam.here中评估的信息总量，我们提出了一个完全不同的范例，可以通过采取完全不同的方法来获取图像，后处理和可视化，从而大大提高MRI的效率和特异性。这类新的方法，磁共振指纹（MRF），克服了传统的限制，完全拥抱信号不相干的概念，在压缩传感的核心。由于可以分析的参数丰富，磁共振指纹法可以增强当前的解释，以改善疾病的诊断和监测。事实上，我们正在提出一种全新的医学成像方法，直接收集有关疾病状态和生理的解剖学定量信息。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): MRI has become a key component of clinical medicine because it offers exquisite images of soft tissues that can be made sensitive to almost any disease process. However, it is increasingly clear that the current paradigm of MRI has run up against significant limitations that are, in many cases, unavoidable. Current clinical MRI is effective but practically restricted to a qualitative depiction of a limited set of tissue propertis which are visualized through a series of different acquisitions. Further, the reliance on human interpretation limits the total amount of information that can be assessed in any given exam. Here we propose a radically different paradigm that could dramatically increase the efficiency and specificity of MRI by taking a completely different approach to image acquisition, post-processing and visualization. This new class of methods, Magnetic Resonance Fingerprinting (MRF), overcomes traditional limitations by fully embracing the concept of signal incoherence at the core of compressed sensing. Because of the richness of the parameters that can be analyzed, MR- Fingerprinting methods could augment current interpretation to improve diagnosis and monitoring of disease. Indeed, we are proposing an altogether new approach to medical imaging that directly collects anatomically informed quantitative information about disease state and physiology.