Measuring biological tissue parameters using diffusion magnetic resonance imaging
First Claim
1. A method of characterizing a biological structure, comprising:
- determining individual diffusion signals from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data in a set of MRI images of a biological structure, the MRI data including diffusion weighting conditions that include at least one of diffusion gradient directions, diffusion gradient strengths, sensitivity factors (b-values), or diffusion times;
combining the individual diffusion signals to determine a processed diffusion signal corresponding to at least one location within one or more voxels of the MRI data;
calculating one or more parameters from the processed diffusion signal by using the diffusion weighting conditions; and
using the one or more parameters to identify a characteristic of the biological structure,wherein the one or more parameters include values over a range of one or more diffusion length scales based on at least one of diffusion distance or diffusion rate.
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Abstract
Methods, devices and systems are disclosed for measuring biological tissue parameters using restriction spectrum magnetic resonance imaging. In one aspect, a method of characterizing a biological structure includes determining individual diffusion signals from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data in a set of MRI images that include diffusion weighting conditions (e.g., diffusion gradient directions, diffusion gradient strengths, sensitivity factors (b-values), or diffusion times), combining the individual diffusion signals to determine a processed diffusion signal corresponding to at least one location within one or more voxels of the MRI data, calculating one or more parameters from the processed diffusion signal by using the diffusion weighting conditions, and using the one or more parameters to identify a characteristic of the biological structure, in which the one or more parameters include values over a range of one or more diffusion length scales based on at least one of diffusion distance or diffusion rate.
46 Citations
45 Claims
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1. A method of characterizing a biological structure, comprising:
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determining individual diffusion signals from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data in a set of MRI images of a biological structure, the MRI data including diffusion weighting conditions that include at least one of diffusion gradient directions, diffusion gradient strengths, sensitivity factors (b-values), or diffusion times; combining the individual diffusion signals to determine a processed diffusion signal corresponding to at least one location within one or more voxels of the MRI data; calculating one or more parameters from the processed diffusion signal by using the diffusion weighting conditions; and using the one or more parameters to identify a characteristic of the biological structure, wherein the one or more parameters include values over a range of one or more diffusion length scales based on at least one of diffusion distance or diffusion rate. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. An MRI system, comprising:
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a magnetic resonance imaging data acquisition system adapted to acquire magnetic resonance (MR) data from a biological structure of a subject, the MR data comprising one or more data voxels; and a data processing unit that receives the MR data from the magnetic resonance data imaging acquisition system, the data processing unit comprising; a mechanism that generates diffusion data of the biological structure from the MR data by determining a diffusion signal corresponding to at least one location within the one or more data voxels by combining a plurality of individual diffusion signals, each individual diffusion signal having an orientation and volume fraction, the diffusion data including one or more parameters, and a mechanism that uses the one or more parameters to identify a characteristic of the biological structure, wherein the one or more parameters include values over a range of one or more diffusion length scales based on at least one of diffusion distance or diffusion rate, and wherein the MR data includes at least one of diffusion gradient directions, diffusion gradient strengths, diffusion waveforms, diffusion sensitivity factors (b-values), or diffusion times. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. A computer program product comprising a nonvolatile computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions comprising:
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code for determining individual diffusion signals from MRI data in a set of MRI images of a biological structure, the MRI data including diffusion weighting conditions that include at least one of diffusion gradient directions, diffusion gradient strengths, sensitivity factors (b-values), or diffusion times; code for calculating one or more parameters of the MRI data by combining the individual diffusion signals to determine a processed diffusion signal corresponding to at least one location within one or more voxels of the MRI data, wherein the combining includes fitting estimate values into a linear mixture model of the processed diffusion signal for a plurality of conditions of the diffusion weighting conditions; and code for using the one or more parameters to identify a characteristic of the biological structure. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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36. A method for estimating parameters of a linear mixture model of diffusion magnetic resonance imaging data, comprising:
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receiving MR data from diffusion MRI signals of a biological structure; using model regularization of a solution vector to estimate model parameters from the MRI data by placing constraints on the form and the extent of the estimated model parameters; and using the estimated model parameters to identify a characteristic of the biological structure. - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45)
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Specification