Patent ID: 8135452
Filing Date: 2012-03-13
Classification: A61B,G01R

Abstract:
1. A bilateral projection reconstruction method for simultaneous, three dimensional, dynamic contrast-enhanced MR imaging of both breasts of an individual, the method simultaneously in both breasts of the individual comprising the steps of: introducing one or more contrast agents into the individual prior to acquiring MR data; applying MR spectroscopic settings to tune magnetic field uniformity; selectively inverting magnetization from adipose tissue; controlling simultaneously exciting magnetization from identified volumes of both breasts using double-side band modulation of an RF slab excitation pulse; acquiring high resolution MR data by interleaved radial acquisition for discontinuous volumes of both breasts using multi-coil arrays for signal separation, while under-sampling a number of slice phase encoding steps by a factor of 2; reconstructing in-plane encoded image signals from both breast volumes using dynamic k-space weighted image contrast (KWIC) temporal filtering; removing signal aliasing from one imaged breast volume to the other using SENSE processing in the slice direction to provide and display three dimensional morphologic images of both breast volumes; modeling contrast kinetics using a heuristic model; and displaying parameters from the heuristic model as color overlays on the displayed morphologic images.