RT Journal Article
SR 00
ID 10.1109/TMI.2018.2833288
A1 Ramos Llordén, Gabriel
A1 Vegas Sánchez-Ferrero, Gonzalo
A1 Björk, Marcus
A1 Vanhevel, Floris
A1 Parizel, Paul M.
A1 San José Estépar, Raúl
A1 Dekker, Arnold J. den
A1 Sijbers, Jan
T1 NOVIFAST: A Fast Algorithm for Accurate and Precise VFA MRI T1 Mapping
JF IEEE transactions on medical imaging
YR 2018
FD 2018-11
VO 37
IS 11
SP 2414
OP 2427
K1 T1 mapping; variable flip angle; SPGR; DESPOT1; relaxometry
AB In quantitative magnetic resonance T1 mapping, the variable flip angle (VFA) steady state spoiled gradient recalled echo (SPGR) imaging technique is popular as it provides a series of high resolution T1 weighted images in a clinically feasible time. Fast, linear methods that estimate T1 maps from these weighted images have been proposed, such as DESPOT1 and iterative re-weighted linear least squares. More accurate, non-linear least squares (NLLS) estimators are in play, but these are generally much slower and require careful initialization. In this paper, we present NOVIFAST, a novel NLLS-based algorithm specifically tailored to VFA SPGR T1 mapping. By exploiting the particular structure of the SPGR model, a computationally efficient, yet accurate and precise T1 map estimator is derived. Simulation and in vivo human brain experiments demonstrate a twenty-fold speed gain of NOVIFAST compared with conventional gradient-based NLLS estimators while maintaining a high precision and accuracy. Moreover, NOVIFAST is eight times faster than the efficient implementations of the variable projection (VARPRO) method. Furthermore, NOVIFAST is shown to be robust against initialization.
PB IEEE
SN 0278-0062
LK https://oa.upm.es/55074/
UL https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8371285