Correction of susceptibility-induced distortion in Diffusion Tensor Imaging with a moment-based phase unwrapping method

Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) is a powerful technique for non-invasive characterisation of normal and pathological tissues, however, it is vulnerable to geometric distortions caused by magnetic field inhomogeneity. In this work, we present a phase unwrapping method that is based on the method of moments. The algorithm is used to generate magnetic field maps and correct susceptibility-induced distortions. MR datasets were acquired using a 3T MRI scanner to investigate consistency of distortion correction by the proposed method. The results demonstrate the relative consistency of the resultant distortion correction, which is critical for longitudinal studies of human diseases using DTI.

[1]  Zhi-Pei Liang,et al.  A model-based method for phase unwrapping , 1996, IEEE Trans. Medical Imaging.

[2]  Bin Chen,et al.  Integrated SENSE DTI with correction of susceptibility- and eddy current-induced geometric distortions , 2008, NeuroImage.

[3]  Rudolf Stollberger,et al.  Automated unwrapping of MR phase images applied to BOLD MR‐venography at 3 Tesla , 2003, Journal of magnetic resonance imaging : JMRI.

[4]  Qun Zhao,et al.  Unwrapping magnetic resonance phase maps with Chebyshev polynomials. , 2009, Magnetic resonance imaging.

[5]  Mark W. Woolrich,et al.  Advances in functional and structural MR image analysis and implementation as FSL , 2004, NeuroImage.

[6]  Bin Chen,et al.  Correction for direction-dependent distortions in diffusion tensor imaging using matched magnetic field maps , 2006, NeuroImage.

[7]  John S Duncan,et al.  Neuroimaging methods to evaluate the etiology and consequences of epilepsy , 2002, Epilepsy Research.

[8]  Ming-Kuei Hu,et al.  Visual pattern recognition by moment invariants , 1962, IRE Trans. Inf. Theory.

[9]  Mark Hedley,et al.  A new two‐dimensional phase unwrapping algorithm for MRI images , 1992, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[10]  Li An,et al.  A fast implementation of the minimum spanning tree method for phase unwrapping , 2000, IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging.

[11]  Alan C. Evans,et al.  Brain development during childhood and adolescence: a longitudinal MRI study , 1999, Nature Neuroscience.

[12]  Mark D. Pritt,et al.  Least-squares two-dimensional phase unwrapping using FFT's , 1994, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[13]  Gianfranco Fornaro,et al.  A two-dimensional region growing least squares phase unwrapping algorithm for interferometric SAR processing , 1999, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[14]  Miroslaw Pawlak,et al.  On Image Analysis by Moments , 1996, IEEE Trans. Pattern Anal. Mach. Intell..

[15]  Stefan Skare,et al.  How to correct susceptibility distortions in spin-echo echo-planar images: application to diffusion tensor imaging , 2003, NeuroImage.

[16]  James R. Moore,et al.  Correction for distortion of echo‐planar images used to calculate the apparent diffusion coefficient , 1996, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[17]  Mihai Datcu,et al.  Bayesian approaches to phase unwrapping: theoretical study , 2000, IEEE Trans. Signal Process..

[18]  Mark Jenkinson,et al.  Fast, automated, N‐dimensional phase‐unwrapping algorithm , 2003, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[19]  P. Basser,et al.  Comprehensive approach for correction of motion and distortion in diffusion‐weighted MRI , 2004, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[20]  Louis A. Romero,et al.  Minimum Lp-norm two-dimensional phase unwrapping , 1996 .

[21]  Robert Turner,et al.  Image Distortion Correction in fMRI: A Quantitative Evaluation , 2002, NeuroImage.

[22]  Dongrong Xu,et al.  Correction of eddy‐current distortions in diffusion tensor images using the known directions and strengths of diffusion gradients , 2006, Journal of magnetic resonance imaging : JMRI.

[23]  Quan Jiang,et al.  A modified fourier‐based phase unwrapping algorithm with an application to MRI venography , 2008, Journal of magnetic resonance imaging : JMRI.

[24]  P. Jezzard,et al.  Correction for geometric distortion in echo planar images from B0 field variations , 1995, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[25]  José M. Bioucas-Dias,et al.  Phase Unwrapping via Graph Cuts , 2007, IEEE Trans. Image Process..

[26]  C. Pierpaoli,et al.  Characterization of and correction for eddy current artifacts in echo planar diffusion imaging , 1998, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[27]  Usha Sinha,et al.  Geometric distortion correction of high‐resolution 3 T diffusion tensor brain images , 2005, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[28]  Gary H. Glover,et al.  Phase unwrapping of MR phase images using Poisson equation , 1995, IEEE Trans. Image Process..

[29]  Ziliang Ping,et al.  Image description with Chebyshev-Fourier moments. , 2002, Journal of the Optical Society of America. A, Optics, image science, and vision.

[30]  Brendan J. Frey,et al.  Unwrapping of MR phase images using a Markov random field model , 2006, IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging.