Mri-based fat double bond mapping
AssigneeThe Regents of the University of California
InventorsMark Bydder, Gavin Hamilton, Michael Middleton, Claude Sirlin
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Abstract
Techniques, apparatus and systems are described for using parameters including chain length, number of double bonds and number of double-double bonds of a complex, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-generated fat spectrum to determine the composition and properties of fat and to perform various diagnostic functions. In one aspect, a method using MRI to characterize fat includes acquiring a magnetic resonance (MR) image that includes MR data from a target, determining fat characterization parameters based on the acquired MR data, and using the determined fat characterization parameters to produce a relationship between regions of fat and/or water in the MR image.
Claims26
A method for using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to characterize fat, comprising:
- acquiring a magnetic resonance (MR) image that includes MR data from a target;
- determining fat characterization parameters based on the acquired MR data;
- and
- using the determined fat characterization parameters to produce a relationship between regions of fat, regions of water, or regions of fat and water in the MR image.
An MRI system to characterize fat, comprising:
- an MRI machine that acquires at least one MR image from a target;
- a processing unit configured to:
- command the MRI machine to acquire at least one MR image that includes MR data from the target;
- determine fat characterization parameters based on the acquired MR data;
- and
- use the determined fat characterization parameters to produce a relationship between regions of fat, regions of water, or regions of fat and water in the MR image.
A computer program product comprising a nonvolatile computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions comprising:
- code for acquiring an MR image that includes MR data from a target;
- code for determining fat characterization parameters based on the acquired MR data;
- and
- code for using the determined fat characterization parameters to produce a relationship between regions of fat, regions of water, or regions of fat and water in the MR image.
An MRI method, comprising modeling a MRI-generated fat spectrum from an MR image of a target using at least one of three parameters including a CL, an NDB, or an NDDB.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.