MRI using spatially adaptive regularization for image reconstruction

A magnetic resonance imaging system comprising:

• a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system including a main magnet coil, gradient coils and RF coils, the MRI system being configured to induce magnetic resonance in tissue of a subject in an imaging region and acquire MRI echo information from a region of interest of the subject;
• one or more processors configured to:
• receive the MRI echo information from a region of interest, the MRI echo information including first image information suitable for reconstructing at least part of a first image of tissue of the subject in the region of interest at a selected contrast,
• obtain previously-reconstructed image information of one or more previously-reconstructed images having a different contrast which is different than the selected contrast,
• extract information including noise distribution information from the previously-reconstructed image information,
• determine spatially adaptive regularization weights for regularized reconstruction based upon the extracted noise distribution information, and
• reconstruct the first image information in accordance with the spatially adaptive regularization weights and the MRI echo information;
• and
• a display, wherein the one or more processors are configured to render on the display at least one of the reconstructed first image information at the selected contrast and the previously-reconstructed image information having the different contrast which is different than the selected contrast.

A method of reconstructing images obtained by a magnetic resonance imaging system, the method performed by at least one controller of the MR magnetic resonance imaging system and comprising acts of:

• acquiring echo information of a region of interest, the echo information including first image information suitable for reconstructing at least part of a first image at a selected contrast;
• obtaining previously-reconstructed image information of one or more previously-reconstructed images having a different contrast which is different from the selected contrast;
• extracting information from the previously-reconstructed image information;
• determining spatially adaptive regularization weights based upon the extracted information;
• and
• reconstructing the first image information in accordance with the spatially adaptive regularization weights and the echo information,
• wherein the act of extracting information from the previously-reconstructed image information extracts a noise information from the previously-reconstructed image information.

A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising a computer program, the computer program comprising instructions which, when executed by a processor, configure the processor to reconstruct images obtained from a magnetic resonance image system, the computer program comprising a program portion configured to:

• acquire echo information of a region of interest, the echo information including first image information suitable for reconstructing at least part of a first image at a selected contrast;
• obtain previously-reconstructed image information of one or more previously-reconstructed images having a different contrast which is different from the selected contrast;
• extract information from the previously-reconstructed image information;
• determine spatially adaptive regularization weights for regularized reconstruction based upon the extracted image information;
• and
• reconstruct the first image information in accordance with the spatially adaptive regularization weights and the echo information,
• wherein the program portion for extracting the information from the previously-reconstructed image information is further configured to extract noise information from the previously-reconstructed image information.