Magnetic resonance fingerprinting in slices along a one-dimensional extension

A method of operating a magnetic resonance imaging system for acquiring magnetic resonance data from a subject within an imaging zone, wherein the magnetic resonance imaging system comprises:

• a magnet for generating a main magnetic field within the imaging zone;
• a magnetic field gradient generator for generating a gradient magnetic field within the imaging zone, wherein the gradient magnetic field is aligned with a predetermined direction;
• and
• a memory for storing machine executable instructions, a pre-calculated magnetic resonance fingerprinting dictionary, and pulse sequence instructions, wherein the pulse sequence instructions cause the magnetic resonance imaging system to acquire the magnetic resonance data according to a magnetic resonance fingerprinting technique, wherein the magnetic resonance fingerprinting technique encodes the magnetic resonance data as slices, wherein the pre-calculated magnetic resonance fingerprinting dictionary contains a listing of calculated magnetic resonance in response to execution of the pulse sequence instructions for a set of predetermined substances;
• wherein the method comprises the steps of:
• acquiring the magnetic resonance data by controlling the magnetic resonance imaging system with the pulse sequence instructions;
• dividing the magnetic resonance data into a set of slices;
• calculating the abundance of each of the set of predetermined substances within each of the set of slices by comparing the magnetic resonance data for each of the set of slices with the pre-calculated magnetic resonance fingerprinting dictionary;
• and
• calculating a magnetic resonance fingerprint chart by plotting abundance of each of the set of predetermined substances within each of the set of slices as a function of position along the predetermined direction.

A computer program product for execution by a processor controlling a magnetic resonance imaging system for acquiring magnetic resonance data from a subject within an imaging zone, wherein the magnetic resonance imaging system comprises:

• a magnet (104) for generating a main magnetic field within the imaging zone;
• a magnetic field gradient generator for generating a gradient magnetic field within the imaging zone, wherein the gradient magnetic field is aligned with a predetermined direction;
• and
• a memory for storing a pre-calculated magnetic resonance fingerprinting dictionary, and pulse sequence instructions, wherein the pulse sequence instructions cause the magnetic resonance imaging system to acquire the magnetic resonance data according to a magnetic resonance fingerprinting technique, wherein the magnetic resonance fingerprinting technique encodes the magnetic resonance data as slices, wherein the pre-calculated magnetic resonance fingerprinting dictionary contains a listing of calculated magnetic resonance signals in response to execution of the pulse sequence instructions for a set of predetermined substances;
• wherein execution of the machine executable instructions causes the processor to:
• acquire the magnetic resonance data by controlling the magnetic resonance imaging system with the pulse sequence instructions;
• divide the magnetic resonance data into a set of slices;
• calculate the abundance of each of the set of predetermined substances within each of the set of slices by comparing the magnetic resonance data for each of the set of slices with the pre-calculated magnetic resonance fingerprinting dictionary;
• and
• calculate the magnetic resonance fingerprint chart by plotting abundance of each of the set of predetermined substances within each of the set of slices as a function of position along the predetermined direction.