Method for fat characterization using MRI images acquired using a multiple gradient-echo sequence with bipolar gradients

US10646134B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignees

• Institut National de la Sante et de la Recherche Medicale (INSERM) · FR
• UNIVERSITÉ PARIS DIDEROT—PARIS 7 · FR
• Universite de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines · FR
• ASSISTANCE PUBLIQUE—HÔPITAUX DE PARIS (APHP) · FR

Inventors

• Benjamin LEPORQ · Villeurbanne, FR
• Simon Lambert · London, GB
• Bernard VAN BEERS · Paris, FR

Key dates

• Filing date: Apr 22, 2016
• Grant date: May 12, 2020
• Expiry date: Nov 17, 2036

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G01R33/56554
• WIPO field: Measurement
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

It is proposed a method for post-processing images of an region of interest in a subject, the images being acquired with a magnetic resonance imaging technique, the method for post-processing comprising at least the step of: —unwrapping the phase of each image, —extracting a complex signal over echo time for at least one pixel of the unwrapped images, and —calculating fat characterization parameters by using a fitting technique applied on a model, the model being a function which associates to a plurality of parameters each extracted complex signal, the plurality of parameters comprising at least two fat characterization parameters, the magnitude error and the phase error generated by the use of the bipolar readout gradients, the fitting technique being a non-linear least-square fitting technique using pseudo-random initial conditions.