Complex amplitude modulation in blood flow and perfusion measurement for measuring a distribution of transit times on a voxel by voxel basis

A system for measuring a distribution of transit times of labeled spins in a sample via magnetic resonance imaging, comprising:

• an MRI scanner;
• a data processor;
• and
• a controller,
• wherein in operation the controller executes a series of instructions which cause the MRI scanner to:
• provide a labeling plane and an imaging plane for a sample;
• modulate the magnetization of inflowing spins at the labeling plane using a complex sequence;
• and causes the data processor to:
• process an acquired signal at the imaging plane to obtain a distribution of transit times for the modulated spins from the labeling plane to each voxel of the imaging plane from a set of acquired image slices of the sample in a single unified acquisition,
• wherein the complex sequence has minimal autocorrelation over time and its frequency domain transform has no zeros, and wherein the frequency domain transform of the distribution of transit times is obtained by dividing the frequency domain transform of the acquired signal by the frequency domain transform of the complex sequence on a voxel by voxel basis.

A computer program product comprising a tangible computer usable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein for causing a computer to:

• provide a labeling plane and an imaging plane for a sample;
• modulate the magnetization of inflowing spins at the labeling plane using a complex sequence;
• and
• obtain a distribution of transit times for the modulated spins from the labeling plane to each voxel of the imaging plane from a set of acquired image slices of the sample in a single unified acquisition;
• wherein the complex sequence has minimal autocorrelation over time and its frequency domain transform has no zeros, and
• wherein the frequency domain transform of the distribution of transit times is obtained by dividing the frequency domain transform of the acquired signal of each of the acquired image slices by the frequency domain transform of the complex sequence on a voxel by voxel basis.