System and method for imaging organs with multiple blood supplies

A method for imaging a portion of a subject including an organ receiving blood from multiple, different supplies using a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system, the method comprising:

• delivering a dose of a material configured to change MR contrast to the subject;
• following delivery of the dose of the material configured to change MR contrast to the subject, simultaneously acquiring MR data from multiple, different supplies to form an MR dataset;
• reconstructing the MR dataset into a first set of MR images using a first reconstruction process configured to weight the first set of MR images to the material configured to change the MR contrast;
• reconstructing the MR dataset into a second set of MR images using a second reconstruction process configured to weight the second set of MR images against the material configured to change the MR contrast;
• receiving a user-selectable weighting of the first set of MR images relative the second set of MR images to independently view the multiple, different supplies of blood to the organ;
• and
• displaying the first set of MR images and the second set of MR images together based on the user-selectable weighting of the first set of MR images relative the second set of MR images to independently view the multiple, different supplies of blood to the organ.

A computer system including a non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by the computer, cause the computer to carry out steps comprising:

• accessing MR data acquired from a region of interest (ROI) including a placenta of a subject having received a dose of a material configured to change MR contrast;
• reconstructing the MR data into a set of maximum intensity projection (MIP) images;
• reconstructing the MR data into a set of minimum intensity projection (MinIP) images;
• receiving a user selection of one of a transparency or a weighting of the MIP images relative to the MinIP images;
• and
• displaying the MIP images and the MinIP images as a composite image of the placenta formed based on the user selection.

A method for creating images of a placenta of a subject pregnant with a fetus, the method comprising:

• accessing MR data acquired from a region of interest (ROI) including a placenta of a subject having received a dose of a material configured to change MR contrast;
• reconstructing the MR dataset into a first set of MR images using a first reconstruction process configured to weight the first set of MR images to placental blood flow of the subject;
• reconstructing the MR dataset into a second set of MR images using a second reconstruction process configured to weight the second set of MR images to placental blood flow of the fetus;
• and
• displaying the first set of MR images and the second set of MR images together to selectively display placental blood flow of the subject or placental blood flow of the fetus.

A method for generating images of a portion of a subject including an organ receiving blood from multiple, different supplies, the method comprising:

• accessing MR data acquired from a subject having received a dose of a material configured to change MR contrast, wherein the MR data was acquired from a region of interest (ROI) including an organ with blood flow from multiple, different supplies;
• reconstructing the MR dataset into a first set of MR images using a first reconstruction process configured to weight the first set of MR images to the material configured to change the MR contrast;
• reconstructing the MR dataset into a second set of MR images using a second reconstruction process configured to weight the second set of MR images against the material configured to change the MR contrast;
• and
• displaying the first set of MR images and the second set of MR images to selectively display blood flow from each of the multiple, different supplies.