Image processing device, MRI apparatus including the same, and image processing method

A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus comprising:

• an imaging unit that collects a nuclear magnetic resonance signal generated by a subject and reconstructs an image of the subject by using the nuclear magnetic resonance signal;
• and
• an image processing unit that processes the image reconstructed by the imaging unit,
• wherein the image processing unit includes:
• a noise reduction section that generates a second MR image in which noise and artifacts are reduced with respect to an original image acquired by the imaging unit;
• a difference image generation section that generates a difference image by taking, for each pixel, a difference in signal intensity between the original image and the second MR image;
• a weight calculation section that calculates, for each pixel, a corresponding weighting value by using the difference image;
• and
• a composite image generation section that generate the third MR image by using weights including for each pixel the corresponding weighting value to combine the original image and the second MR image through weighted averaging for each pixel and generates a third MR image,
• wherein the weight value applied for each pixel monotonically increases as a magnitude of the difference for the pixel in the difference image increases.

An image processing method of generating and presenting a third MR image by using a first MR image acquired by a magnetic resonance imaging apparatus and a second MR image obtained by performing processing of reducing noise and artifacts with respect to the first MR image, the image processing method comprising:

• generating a difference image by taking, for each pixel, a difference in signal intensity between the first MR image and the second MR image;
• calculating, for each pixel, a corresponding weighting value by using the difference image;
• and
• generating the third MR image by using weights including for each pixel the corresponding weighting value to combine the first MR image and the second MR image through weighted averaging for each pixel,
• the weight value applied for each pixel monotonically increasing as a magnitude of the difference for the pixel in the difference image increases.