Patent ID: 8670602

Claim:
A method for producing an image of an organ or tissue with a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system comprising the steps of: a) injecting a contrast agent into a blood vessel which induces a differential between the susceptibilities of the blood vessel and a tissue of interest; b) utilizing an image processor to acquire MRI image data sets during a first passage of the contrast agent through the tissue of interest using an imaging sequence adapted to collect image data at both short and long echo times (TE); c) utilizing a processor to compute image maps of relative cerebral blood volume (rCBV) from data in the acquired MRI image data sets; d) correcting the rCBV image maps for variations to T1, T2 and T2* relaxation rates caused by contrast agent extravasation or recirculation; e) utilizing a processor to compute image maps of absolute cerebral blood volume (CBV), cerebral blood flow (CBF) and mean transit time (MTT) from data in the acquired image data sets; f) correcting the CBV, CBF and MTT image maps for variations to T1, T2 and T2* relaxation rates caused by contrast agent extravasation or recirculation; g) utilizing a processor to create T1-weighted DCE parameter maps for preselected DCE permeability parameters from the short echo time (TE) data; and h) based on the T1-weighted DCE parameter maps, utilizing a processor to compute perfusion and permeability parameter maps correcting for contrast leakage, and displaying corrected perfusion and permeability maps.