Motion estimation applied to reconstruct undersampled dynamic MRI

Abstract

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) has become an important tool for dynamic clinical studies. Regrettably, the long acquisition time is still a challenge in dynamic MRI. Several undersampled reconstruction techniques have been developed to speed up the acquisition without significantly compromising image quality. Most of these methods are based on modeling the pixel intensity changes. Recently, we introduced a new approach based on the motion estimation of each object element (obel, a piece of tissue). Although the method works well, the outcome is a trade off between the maximum undersampling factor and the motion estimation accuracy. In this work we propose to improve its performance through the use of additional data from multiple coils acquisition. Preliminary results on cardiac MRI show that further undersampling and/or improved reconstruction accuracy is achieved using this technique. Furthermore, an approximation of the vector field of motion is obtained. This method is appropriate for sequences where the obels' intensity through time is nearly constant.