Patent ID: 9329250
Filing Date: 2016-05-03
CPC Classification: G01R

Claim Text:
1. A method for producing a quantitative map of transverse relaxation rate while separating signal contributions from at least two chemical species using a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system, the steps of the method comprising: a) acquiring k-space data with the MRI system using a partial k-space acquisition that samples a fraction of k-space, the k-space data corresponding to magnetic resonance signals formed at least at three different echo times; b) producing low-pass filtered data by applying a low-pass filter to the k-space data acquired in step a); c) reconstructing low resolution images from the low-pass filtered data; d) fitting the low resolution images to a signal model to estimate a low resolution field map, a first low resolution image depicting signal contributions from a first chemical species separated from a second chemical species, and a second low resolution image depicting signal contributions from the second chemical species separated from the first chemical species; e) applying a weighting to the k-space data acquired in step a); f) reconstructing weighted images from the weighted k-space data; g) demodulating the weighted images using the low resolution field map, first low resolution image, and second low resolution estimated in step d); h) estimating a transverse relaxation rate, R i) fitting the weighted images reconstructed in step f), the low resolution field map estimated in step d), and the R