Parallel magnetic resonance (MR) imaging may be used to increase either the throughput or the speed of the MR imaging experiment. As such, parallel imaging may be accomplished either through a "parallelization" of the MR experiment, or by the use of arrays of sensors. In parallelization, multiple MR scanners (or multiple sensors) are used to collect images from different samples simultaneously. This allows for an increase in the throughput, not the inherent speed, of the MR experiment. Parallel imaging with arrays of sensor coils, on the other hand, makes use of the spatial localization properties of the sensors in an imaging array to allow a reduction in the number of phase encodes required in acquiring an image. This reduced phase-encoding requirement permits an increase in the overall imaging speed by a factor up to the number of sensors in the imaging array. The focus of this dissertation has been the development of cost-effective instrumentation that would enable advances in the state of the art of parallel MR imaging. First, a low-cost desktop MR scanner was developed (< $13,000) for imaging small samples (2.54 cm fields-of view) at low magnetic field strengths (< 0.25 T). The performance of the prototype was verified through bench-top measurements and phantom imaging. The prototype transceiver has demonstrated an SNR (signal-to-noise ratio) comparable to that of a commercial MR system. This scanner could make parallelization of the MR experiment a practical reality, at least in the areas of small animal research and education. A 64-channel receiver for parallel MR imaging with arrays of sensors was also developed. The receiver prototype was characterized through both bench-top tests and phantom imaging. The parallel receiver is capable of simultaneous reception of up to sixty-four, 1 MHz bandwidth MR signals, at imaging frequencies from 63 to 200 MHz, with an SNR performance (on each channel) comparable to that of a single-channel commercial MR receiver. The prototype should enable investigation into the speed increases obtainable from imaging with large arrays of sensors and has already been used to develop a new parallel imaging technique known as single echo acquisition (SEA) imaging.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is one of medical images used by doctors for diagnosing diseases. MRI shows higher quality in displaying soft tissues and tumors. Pharmacokinetic dynamic gadolinium-enhanced MR imaging and functional MR imaging (fMRI) were used in this dissertation. Dynamic MR images are obtained using fast spin-echo sequences at consecutive time after the injection of gadolinium-diethylene-triamine penta-acetic (Gd-DTPA) acid. A pharmacokinetic model analyzes time-signal intensity curves of suspected lesions. Functional MR imaging produces images of activated brain regions by detecting the indirect effects of neuronal activity on local blood volume, flow, and oxygen saturation. Thus it is a promising tool for further understanding the relationships between brain structure, function, and pathology. Because of patients' movement during imaging, serially acquired MR images do not correspond in the same pixel position. Therefore, matching corresponding points from MR images is one of fundamental tasks in this dissertation. Least-squares estimation is a standard method for parameter estimation. However, outliers (due to non-Gaussian noise, lesion evolution, motion-related artifacts, etc.) may exist and thus may cause the motion parameter estimation result to deteriorate. In this dissertation, we describe two robust estimation algorithms for the registration of serially acquired MR images. The first estimation algorithm is based on the Newton method and uses the Tukey's biweight objective function. The second estimation algorithm is based on the Levenberg-Marquardt technique and uses a skipped mean objective function. The robust M-estimators can suppress the effects of the outliers by scaling down their error magnitudes or completely rejecting outliers using a weighting function. Experimental results show the accuracy of the proposed robust estimation algorithms is within subpixel. MR imaging has been used to evaluate nasal papilloma. However, postoperative MR imaging of nasal papilloma becomes more complicated because repair with granulation and fibrosis occurs after surgery. Therefore, it is possible to misclassify recurrences as postoperative changes or to misclassify postoperative changes as recurrences. Recently, dynamic gadolinium-enhanced MR imaging with pharmacokinetic analysis has been successfully used to identify the post-treatment recurrence or postoperative changes in rectal and cervical carcinoma. Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) comprising malignant tumors is a disease more common in Asia than in other parts of the world. Hence, in this dissertation, we evaluate the feasibility of dynamic gadolinium-enhanced MR imaging with pharmacokinetic analysis in detecting NPC and distinguishing recurrent nasal papilloma from postoperative changes (fibrosis or granulation tissue). In this dissertation, a new approach to differentiate recurrent nasal papilloma from postoperative changes using pharmacokinetic dynamic gadolinium-enhanced MR imaging and robust motion correction is presented. First, a robust estimation technique is incorporated into nonlinear minimization method to robustly register dynamic gadolinium-enhanced MR images. Next, user roughly selects the region of interest (ROI) and an active contour technique is used to extract a more precise ROI. Then, the relative signal increase (RSI) is calculated. We use a three-parameter mathematical model for pharmacokinetic analysis. The pharmacokinetic parameters A (enhancement amplitude) and Tc (tissue distribution time) are calculated by a nonlinear least-squares fitting technique. The calculated A and Tc are used to characterize tissue. Pharmacokinetic analysis shows that recurrent nasal papilloma has faster tissue distribution time (Tc, 41 versus 88 seconds) and higher enhancement amplitude (A, 2.4 versus 1.2 arbitrary units) than do postoperative changes. A cut-off of 65 seconds for tissue distribution time and 1.6 units for enhancement amplitude yields an accuracy of 100% for differentiating recurrent nasal papilloma from postoperative changes. Though the above methods obtained good results, finding the region of interest (ROI) was done in a semi-automatic manner. For diagnosing NPC and improve the drawback, a system that automatically detects and labels NPC with dynamic gadolinium-enhanced MR imaging is presented. This system is a multistage process, involving motion correction, gadolinium-enhanced MR data quantitative evaluation, rough segmentation, and rough segmentation refinement. Three approaches, a relative signal increase method, a slope method and a relative signal change method, are proposed for the quantitative evaluation of gadolinium-enhanced MR data. After the quantitative evaluation, a rough NPC outline is determined. Morphological operations are applied to refine the rough segmentation into a final mask. The NPC detection results obtained using the proposed methods had a rating of 85% in match percent compared with these lesions identified by an experienced radiologist. However, the proposed methods can identify the NPC regions quickly and effectively. In this dissertation, the proposed methods provide significant improvement in correcting the motion-related artifacts and can enhance the detection of real brain activation and provide a fast, valuable diagnostic tool for detecting NPC and differentiating recurrent nasal papilloma from postoperative changes.

A retrospective study was performed to determine the prevalence of foot pathologies of horses subjected to magnetic resonance imaging for foot lameness and to determine the long-term outcome of horses after medical treatment. The MR studies of 95 horses were interpreted retrospectively by a boarded certified radiologist. Follow-up information was obtained from medical records, owners and referring veterinarians via telephone questionnaires. Long term response to treatment (minimum of 12 months) was recorded. Horses were divided in two different groups based on the diagnosis and on the treatment using intrasynovial antiinflammatory drugs or not. Logistic regression analysis was performed to compare the outcome between the two groups. The null hypothesis was that the proportion of horses treated successfully between treatment protocols was similar. A diagnosis based on magnetic resonance imaging was made in all horses. Approximately 30% of horses had ≥ 4 lesions, which were determined to be responsible for the lameness and 70% of horses had navicular bone abnormalities. Treatment was determined by individual clinician judgment. No significant difference was found in the long-term outcome between treatment groups. This result suggests that intrasynovial antiinflammatory drugs may not provide additional benefit over corrective shoeing, rest followed by controlled exercise in horses with lesions of structures associated with the navicular apparatus or the distal interphalangeal joint. / Master of Science

Normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH), a CSF circulation disorder, is important as a reversible cause of gait and cognitive disturbance in an aging population. The inconsistent response to CSF shunting is usually attributed to difficulties in differential diagnosis or co-morbidity. Improving outcome depends on an increased understanding of the pathophysiology of NPH. Specifically, this thesis examines the contribution of, and inter-relationship between, the brain parenchyma and CSF circulation in the pathophysiology of NPH. Of the four core studies of the thesis, the first quantifies the characteristics of the CSF circulation and parenchyma in NPH using CSF infusion studies to measure the resistance to CSF absorption and brain compliance. The second study assesses cerebral blood flow (CBF) was using O15-labelled positron emission tomography (PET) with MR co-registration. By performing CSF infusion studies in the PET scanner, CBF at baseline CSF pressure and at a higher equilibrium pressure is measured. Regional changes and autoregulatory capacity are assessed. The final study examines the microstructural integrity of the parenchyma using MR diffusion tensor imaging. These studies confirm the importance of the inter-relationship of the brain parenchyma and CSF circulation. NPH symptomatology and its relationship to the observed regional CBF reductions in the basal ganglia and thalamus are discussed. Regional CBF reductions with increased CSF pressure and the implications for autoregulatory capacity in NPH are considered. The reduction in CBF when CSF was increased was most striking in the periventricular regions. In addition, periventricular structures demonstrated increased diffusivity and decreased anisotropy. The relationship between these changes and mechanisms such as transependymal CSF passage are reviewed. The findings of this thesis support a role of both the CSF circulation and the brain parenchyma in the pathophysiology of NPH. The results have implications for the approach to the management of patients with NPH.

Magnetic resonance imaging nowadays supplies a noninvasive method in clinical applications. For tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) patients, after undergoing clinical operation, their cardiac anatomy still cannot supply sufficient blood flow in the pulmonary arteries with respect to the normal. In this study, we use phase contrast MR imaging to evaluate of regurgitation and turbulence of flow in pulmonary arteries after repair of TOF. We use parameters such as coefficient of variance (CV), regurgitant fraction (RF), and normalized area variation (NAV) to analyze the difference between repaired patients and normal controls. Our result also shows that CV and regurgitant fraction have loose relation. This study may provide more information to help doctors in clinical diagnosis. In the meanwhile, another three parameters were used to evaluate patients and normal persons. We use windkessel volume to see the difference of flow volume between inlet and outlet in the pulmonary arteries. We use pulse wave velocity (PWV) to discuss the propagating velocity of pressure wave on the vascular wall. We use pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) to analyze the resistance of blood wall. PWV and PVR may lose information by means of insufficient points in a cardiac cycle, but the result may still be a kind of reference.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) provides noninvasive method in clinical application. For the patients of Tetralogy of Fallot underwent surgical correction,regurgitation and turbulence in blood flow may still present in pulmonary arteries.In this study,Phase Contrast MR Imaging will be used to quantitate,and to observe blood flow in after repair Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) patients.We use 3 parameters,which are Coefficient of Variance (CV),Regurgitant Fraction (RF) and Net Flow analysis to analyze two situations of blood flow in patients¡¦ left pulmonary artery ¡Bright pulmonary artery and main pulmonary artery.We also compare normal subjects to patients in this experiment. The pulmonary circulation is the action of blood flow from right ventricular to main pulmonary artery then to left pulmonary artery and right pulmonary artery. We use three additional parameters: rPA / lPA flow ratio¡BPeak Velocities and Total Flow to observe the pulmonary blood flow. We use rPA / lPA flow ratio to identify the tendency of blood flow, with Peak Velocities to find out Peak Velocity in normal difference between patient.Meanwhile, the measurement of Total Flow is applied to observe the flow from main pulmonary artery to left and right pulmonary artery. We hope to use these parameters that can help doctors on clinical diagnosis.

Recently magnetic resonance imaging has become more and more popular in clinical applications. In clinical studies, the heart of the TOF patient has some congenital defects. These defects lead to insufficient blood flowing into the pulmonary arteries, rendering the necessary of repair for TOF patients. However, even after repair, the blood in pulmonary arteries still cannot flow in the same way with those of normal people. For this reason, studies on the flow behavior of pulmonary arteries in TOF patients would be valuable in clinical applications. In this study, we focus on the quantitative analysis of in-plane flow in branch pulmonary arteries (left and right pulmonary arteries) after repair of tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) by means of phase-contrast MR imaging. The regurgitation and turbulence were evaluated by coefficient of variance (CV) and regurgitant fraction. Vector map of in-plane flow was also included in order to facilitate the observation of flow patterns. Our result shows a positive correlation of CV and regurgitant fraction in terms of turbulence and regurgitation. Therefore, we conclude that CV and regurgitant fraction as well as vector maps may be helpful to quantitate in-plane flow for after repair of TOF patients, providing a more accurate analysis in clinical diagnosis.