Computation of Transmitted and Received$rm B1$Fields in Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Computation of B1 fields is a key issue for determination and correction of intensity nonuniformity in magnetic resonance images. This paper presents a new method for computing transmitted and received B1 fields. Our method combines a modified MRI acquisition protocol and an estimation technique based on the Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm and spatial filtering. It enables accurate estimation of transmitted and received B1 fields for both homogeneous and heterogeneous objects. The method is validated using numerical simulations and experimental data from phantom and human scans. The experimental results are in agreement with theoretical expectations

[1]  Stuart Crozier,et al.  A Novel Approach to the Calculation of RF Magnetic and Electric Fields for NMR Coils of Arbitrary Geometry , 1995 .

[2]  T. Ibrahim,et al.  B1 field homogeneity and SAR calculations for the birdcage coil , 2001 .

[3]  F. Franconi,et al.  Radiofrequency map of an NMR coil by imaging. , 1993, Magnetic resonance imaging.

[4]  Michael B. Smith,et al.  Calculations of B1 distribution, SNR, and SAR for a surface coil adjacent to an anatomically‐accurate human body model , 2001, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[5]  Richard A. Robb,et al.  Optimized homomorphic unsharp masking for MR grayscale inhomogeneity correction , 1998, IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging.

[6]  N. Thacker,et al.  A fast model independent method for automatic correction of intensity nonuniformity in MRI data , 1999, Journal of magnetic resonance imaging : JMRI.

[7]  Koenraad Van Leemput,et al.  Automated model-based bias field correction of MR images of the brain , 1999, IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging.

[8]  Benoit M. Dawant,et al.  Correction of intensity variations in MR images for computer-aided tissue classification , 1993, IEEE Trans. Medical Imaging.

[9]  W. Barber,et al.  Comparison of linear and circular polarization for magnetic resonance imaging , 1985 .

[10]  D. Ortendahl,et al.  Measuring signal-to-noise ratios in MR imaging. , 1989, Radiology.

[11]  S. Reingold,et al.  The role of magnetic resonance techniques in understanding and managing multiple sclerosis. , 1998, Brain : a journal of neurology.

[12]  T. Ibrahim,et al.  Dielectric resonances and B(1) field inhomogeneity in UHFMRI: computational analysis and experimental findings. , 2001, Magnetic resonance imaging.

[13]  Orhan Nalcioglu,et al.  An fem approach for the characterization of the RF field homogeneity at high field , 1997, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[14]  G. Barker,et al.  Correction of intensity nonuniformity in MR images of any orientation. , 1993, Magnetic resonance imaging.

[15]  Layachi Bentabet,et al.  Automatic determination of mass functions in Dempster-Shafer theory using fuzzy-C-means and spatial neighborhood information for image segmentation , 2002 .

[16]  A Koivula,et al.  Image feature based automatic correction of low-frequency spatial intensity variations in MR images. , 1997, Magnetic resonance imaging.

[17]  D. Hoult Sensitivity and Power Deposition in a High‐Field Imaging Experiment , 2000, Journal of magnetic resonance imaging : JMRI.

[18]  Charles R. Meyer,et al.  Retrospective correction of intensity inhomogeneities in MRI , 1995, IEEE Trans. Medical Imaging.

[19]  P. Narayana,et al.  Effect of Radio Frequency Inhomogeneity Correction on the Reproducibility of Intra‐Cranial Volumes Using MR Image Data , 1995, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[20]  D. Marquardt An Algorithm for Least-Squares Estimation of Nonlinear Parameters , 1963 .

[21]  Paul S. Tofts,et al.  Standing Waves in Uniform Water Phantoms , 1994 .

[22]  G. Bruce Pike,et al.  Understanding Intensity Non-uniformity in MRI , 1998, MICCAI.

[23]  W. Chew,et al.  Computation of electromagnetic fields for high-frequency magnetic resonance imaging applications. , 1996, Physics in medicine and biology.

[24]  Weili Lin Principles of magnetic resonance imaging: a signal processing perspective [Book Review] , 2000, IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine.

[25]  C. Reinsch Smoothing by spline functions , 1967 .

[26]  P Wach,et al.  Imaging of the active B1 field in vivo , 1996, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[27]  M W Vannier,et al.  Post‐acquisition correction of MR inhomogeneities , 1996, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[28]  H. Gudbjartsson,et al.  The rician distribution of noisy mri data , 1995, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[29]  S R Arridge,et al.  A simple method for investigating the effects of non-uniformity of radiofrequency transmission and radiofrequency reception in MRI. , 1998, The British journal of radiology.

[30]  S Crozier,et al.  Direct visualisation of B1 inhomogeneity by flip angle dependency. , 1997, Magnetic resonance imaging.

[31]  Stephen M. Smith,et al.  Segmentation of brain MR images through a hidden Markov random field model and the expectation-maximization algorithm , 2001, IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging.

[32]  L L Wald,et al.  Phased array detectors and an automated intensity‐correction algorithm for high‐resolution MR imaging of the human brain , 1995, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[33]  Martin Styner,et al.  Parametric estimate of intensity inhomogeneities applied to MRI , 2000, IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging.

[34]  Michael B. Smith,et al.  Signal‐to‐noise ratio and absorbed power as functions of main magnetic field strength, and definition of “90°” RF pulse for the head in the birdcage coil , 2001, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[35]  T. Hatsukami,et al.  A multi‐scale method for automatic correction of intensity non‐uniformity in MR images , 2001, Journal of magnetic resonance imaging : JMRI.

[36]  M Alecci,et al.  Radio frequency magnetic field mapping of a 3 Tesla birdcage coil: Experimental and theoretical dependence on sample properties , 2001, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[37]  L. Bolinger,et al.  Mapping of the Radiofrequency Field , 1993 .

[38]  S. Arridge,et al.  Sources of intensity nonuniformity in spin echo images at 1.5 T , 1994, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[39]  M S Cohen,et al.  Rapid and effective correction of RF inhomogeneity for high field magnetic resonance imaging , 2000, Human brain mapping.

[40]  Alan C. Evans,et al.  A nonparametric method for automatic correction of intensity nonuniformity in MRI data , 1998, IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging.

[41]  Y M Zhu,et al.  A method of radio-frequency inhomogeneity correction for brain tissue segmentation in MRI. , 2001, Computerized medical imaging and graphics : the official journal of the Computerized Medical Imaging Society.

[42]  Christopher M. Collins,et al.  A Method for Accurate Calculation ofB1Fields in Three Dimensions. Effects of Shield Geometry on Field Strength and Homogeneity in the Birdcage Coil , 1997 .

[43]  William H. Press,et al.  Numerical recipes in C , 2002 .

[44]  W. Eric L. Grimson,et al.  Adaptive Segmentation of MRI Data , 1995, CVRMed.