Phantom for diffusion mri imaging
AssigneeThe United States of America, as represented by the Secretary, Department of Health and Human Serv
InventorsFerenc Horkay, Carlo Pierpaoli, Peter J. Basser
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A phantom calibration body (12) for calibrating diffusion MRI device (16) that mimics a material such as a mammalian tissue is disclosed. The phantom calibration body (12) includes a homogeneous aqueous solution (30) that contains a mixture of low molecular-weight and high molecular-weight polymers housed in a container (14) that is placed in the diffusion MRI device (16) for obtaining one or more diffusion MRI images of the phantom calibration body (12). A measure of diffusivity is calculated for each of the one or more diffusion MRI images in order to calibrate the diffusion MRI device. Methods of using the phantom calibration body (12) to calibrate diffusion MRI device (16) are also disclosed.
Claims23
A method for calibrating a diffusion MRI device (16) comprising:
- providing a phantom calibration body (12) comprising:
- a homogenous aqueous solution (30) comprising a first polymer having a high molecular-weight and a second polymer having a low molecular-weight;
- the homogenous aqueous solution (30) having a diffusivity that is essentially the same as a target material and a viscosity ranging from about 102 cSt to about 106 cSt;
- placing the phantom calibration body (12) in a diffusion MRI device (16);
- obtaining diffusion imaging data of the phantom calibration body (12) by scanning the phantom calibration body (12) with the diffusion MRI device (16);
- and
- calculating a diffusivity measurement that is indicative of water diffusivity of the homogeneous aqueous solution (30).
-5. (canceled)
A method for calibrating a resolution performance parameter of a diffusion MRI device (16) comprising:
- providing a phantom calibration body (12) comprising one or more known phantom dimensions, and further comprising:
- a homogenous aqueous solution (30) comprising a first polymer having a high molecular-weight and a second polymer having a low molecular-weight;
- the homogenous aqueous solution (30) having a diffusivity that is essentially the same as a target material and a viscosity ranging from about 102 cSt to about 106 cSt;
- placing the phantom calibration body (12) in a diffusion MRI device (16);
- obtaining one or more diffusion-weighted images of the phantom calibration body (12) by scanning the phantom calibration body (12) with the diffusion MRI device (16);
- obtaining one or more image dimensions corresponding to the one or more phantom dimensions;
- and
- comparing the one or more known phantom dimensions to the one or more image dimensions to determine the resolution performance parameter selected from image resolution and image distortion.
A phantom calibration body (12) comprising:
- a homogenous aqueous solution (30) comprising a first polymer having a high molecular-weight and a second polymer having a low molecular-weight, the homogeneous aqueous solution (30) having a diffusivity that is essentially the same as a target material and a viscosity ranging from about 102 cSt to about 106 cSt.
-15. (canceled)
-41. (canceled)
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.