Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is an imaging technique that is used in hospitals worldwide. The images are acquired through the use of an MRI scanner and the clinical information is provided through the image contrast, which is based on the magnetic properties in biological tissue. By altering the scanner settings, images with different contrast properties can be obtained. Conventional MRI is a qualitative imaging technique and no absolute measurements are performed. At Center for Medical Imaging and Visualization (CMIV) researchers are developing a new MRI technique named synthetic MRI (SyMRI). SyMRI is based on quantitative measurements of data and absolute values of the magnetic properties of the biological tissue can be obtained. The purpose of this master thesis has been to take the development of SyMRI a step further by developing and implementing a visualization studio for SyMRI imaging of the human brain. The software, SyMRI Brain Studio, is intended to be used in clinical routine. Input from radiologists was used to evaluate the imaging technique and the software. Additionally, the requirements of the radiologists were converted into technical specifications for the imaging technique and SyMRI Brain Studio. Additionally, validation of the potential in terms of replacing conventional MRI with SyMRI Brain Studio was performed. The work resulted in visualization software that provides a solid formation for the future development of SyMRI Brain Studio into a clinical tool that can be used for validation and research purposes. A list of suggestions for the future developments is also presented. Future clinical evaluation, technical improvements and research are required in order to estimate the potential of SyMRI and to introduce the technique as a generally used clinical tool.

The extension from Quantitative Magnetic Resonance Imaging to synthetic imaging has the clear advantage of being able to continually image the patient after the exam. MR techniques such as DWI are commonly used but have some clear disadvantages resulting from the use of echoplanar imaging. It should then be asked whether one imaging technique is objectively better. If one technique is better, the incorporation in clinical settings could produce better diagnostic rates, and save valuable time. In order to quantitatively assess the quality of these techniques, the SNR and CNR values of similar tissues were compared. The pre-analysis discussion concentrating on the spatial resolution and artifacts, supports that synthetic images have an advantage over DWI due to higher resolution and absence of artifacts. The SNR and CNR values were calculated for each patient and image type for the comparison, initially assuming that the synthetic images would have a higher mean SNR and CNR. In most cases the differences between scan types was found to not be statistically significant. In conclusion, this analysis could not support the initial theory that the synthetic images had a higher SNR or CNR. The research shows that they are more likely to be comparable. An investigation of the diagnostic power of the synthetic in comparison to standard DWI would give clinical relevance to these results.