Determining imaging quality information for a magnetic resonance imaging apparatus

A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus comprising:

• a controller configured to determine imaging quality information for a magnetic resonance imaging apparatus in an examination process of a patient positioned at least partly within an imaging volume of the magnetic resonance imaging apparatus, wherein the imaging quality information is used for assessing performance of the magnetic resonance imaging apparatus, for determining imaging parameters for an imaging protocol, or for assessing performance of the magnetic resonance imaging apparatus and for determining imaging parameters for the imaging protocol, the determination of the imaging quality information comprising:
• measurement of noise information describing general noise properties of the magnetic resonance imaging apparatus in the imaging volume using a predetermined first magnetic resonance sequence;
• acquisition of patient image data in at least one imaging region of the patient using a predetermined second magnetic resonance sequence;
• localization of at least one anatomical landmark of a group of predetermined anatomical landmarks in the patient image by a landmark detection algorithm, wherein for each landmark, for at least one pair of landmarks, or for each landmark and for at least one pair of landmarks, reference information regarding the imaging quality information is provided in a database;
• determination of a landmark-specific signal-to-noise ratio for each localized landmark from the patient image data at the landmark and the noise information;
• and
• determination of the imaging quality information from the landmark-specific signal-to-noise ratio, wherein the assessment of the performance of the magnetic resonance imaging apparatus, the determination of the imaging parameters, or the assessment of the performance of the magnetic resonance imaging apparatus and the determination of the imaging parameters are performed depending on a comparison of the imaging quality information and the corresponding reference information in the database.

In a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that stores instructions executable by one or more processors to determine imaging quality information for a magnetic resonance imaging apparatus in an examination process of a patient positioned at least partly within an imaging volume of the magnetic resonance imaging apparatus, wherein the imaging quality information is used for assessing performance of the magnetic resonance imaging apparatus, for determining imaging parameters for an imaging protocol, or for assessing performance of the magnetic resonance imaging apparatus and for determining imaging parameters for the imaging protocol, the instructions comprising:

• measuring noise information describing general noise properties of the magnetic resonance imaging apparatus in the imaging volume using a predetermined first magnetic resonance sequence;
• acquiring patient image data in at least one imaging region of the patient using a predetermined second magnetic resonance sequence;
• localizing at least one anatomical landmark of a group of predetermined anatomical landmarks in the patient image by a landmark detection algorithm, wherein for each landmark, for at least one pair of landmarks, or for each landmark and for at least one pair of landmarks, reference information regarding the imaging quality information is provided in a database;
• determining a landmark-specific signal-to-noise ratio for each localized landmark from the patient image data at the landmark and the noise information;
• and
• determining the imaging quality information from the landmark-specific signal-to-noise ratio, wherein the assessment of the performance of the magnetic resonance imaging apparatus, the determination of the imaging parameters, or the assessment of the performance of the magnetic resonance imaging apparatus and the determination of the imaging parameters are performed depending on a comparison of the imaging quality information and the corresponding reference information in the database.