JP-7857310-B2 - Stepwise reconstruction of planning images for cardiac magnetic resonance imaging.

Inventors

• ケアップ ヨヘン
• マイネケ ヤン ヤコブ
• シュテーニング クリスティアン
• シュルケ クリストフ ミハエル ジーン
• ドネヴァ マリヤ イワノワ
• ボルネート ペーター ウルリッヒ

Assignees

• コーニンクレッカ フィリップス エヌ ヴェ

Dates

Publication Date

20260512

Application Date

20220311

Priority Date

20210318

Claims (14)

1. A magnetic resonance imaging system that acquires k-space data lines from the chest region of the subject, A memory for storing machine-executable instructions and pulse sequence commands, wherein the pulse sequence command repeatedly acquires the lines of k-space data according to a three-dimensional self-propelled cardiac magnetic resonance imaging protocol, the pulse sequence command repeatedly acquires the lines of k-space data for a predetermined region of interest, and the memory further includes a deformable cardiac model, the deformable cardiac model is three-dimensional, and the deformable cardiac model further defines a set of planes. A computing system wherein the execution of the machine executable instruction is performed by the computing system, The magnetic resonance imaging system is controlled by the aforementioned pulse sequence command to repeatedly acquire the aforementioned lines of k-space data, When the k-space data is acquired, the k-space data that has been decomposed from the line of the k-space data is repeatedly aggregated using at least one cardiac phase and one respiratory phase of the subject, During the acquisition of the k-space data, at least a portion of the motion-decomposed k-space data is read out. Before the acquisition of the aforementioned lines of k-space data is completed, a preliminary three-dimensional cardiac image is constructed using at least a portion of the motion-decomposed k-space data, A fitted cardiac model is constructed by fitting the deformable cardiac model to the preliminary three-dimensional cardiac image, wherein the fitting of the deformable cardiac model to the preliminary three-dimensional cardiac image adjusts the location of the set of planes in the fitted cardiac model, and the set of planes includes at least one cardiac observation plane. A medical system comprising a computing system that provides the aforementioned at least one cardiac observation surface, The three-dimensional self-propelled cardiac magnetic resonance imaging protocol is a functional cardiac imaging protocol for reconstructing cine image sequences, and the medical system further includes a user interface, and the execution of the machine executable instructions is further performed by the computing system. Reconstructing the cine image sequence from the motion-decomposed k-space data after the acquisition of the k-space data is completed, wherein the fitting of the deformable heart model to the preliminary three-dimensional heart image begins before or simultaneously with the reconstruction of the cine image sequence. A medical system that renders at least a portion of the cine image sequence as viewed from at least one cardiac observation surface.
2. The execution of the aforementioned machine-executable instruction further involves the computing system, Detecting cardiac abnormalities using the aforementioned cine image sequence and/or the adapted cardiac model, The process involves querying a workflow database based on the cardiac anomaly to receive a recommended imaging workflow, wherein the workflow database includes a plurality of magnetic resonance imaging workflows, each referencing at least one cardiac anomaly identifier, and the workflow database returns the recommended imaging workflow by matching the cardiac anomaly to the cardiac anomaly identifier of the recommended imaging workflow. The medical system according to claim 1 , which also displays the recommended imaging workflow on the user interface.
3. The medical system according to claim 2, wherein the recommended imaging workflow includes further pulse sequence commands, and the execution of the machine-executable instructions further causes the set of planes from the adapted cardiac model to constitute the geometric orientation of the further pulse sequence commands.
4. The detection of cardiac abnormalities using the cine image sequence and/or the adapted cardiac model, Reconstructing a static three-dimensional cardiac image from at least a portion of the aforementioned cine image sequence, The cardiac abnormality is identified as a thickened right ventricle in the static three-dimensional cardiac image using a right ventricular wall thickness measurement algorithm, This includes identifying the cardiac abnormality as a thickened left ventricle in the static three-dimensional cardiac image using a left ventricular wall thickness measurement algorithm, The medical system according to claim 3 , wherein if the cardiac abnormality is a thickened right ventricle or a thickened left ventricle, the recommended imaging workflow is quantitative blood flow analysis and/or cardiac motion pattern analysis.
5. The medical system according to claim 3 or 4, wherein the detection of the cardiac abnormality using the cine image sequence and/or the adapted cardiac model includes identifying the cardiac abnormality as abnormal cardiac wall motion by inputting the cine image sequence into an abnormal cardiac wall motion detection algorithm, and the recommended imaging workflow includes a delayed contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging protocol for detecting cardiac scar tissue .
6. If the abnormal cardiac wall movement is not detected, the medical system according to claim 5 , wherein the recommended imaging workflow includes a cardiac stress test and/or magnetic resonance perfusion test.
7. The medical system according to any one of claims 3 to 6, wherein the detection of cardiac abnormalities using the cine image sequence and/or the adapted cardiac model includes identifying the cardiac abnormality as potential myocarditis if no cardiac abnormality is detected, and the recommended imaging workflow includes a T2- weighted imaging protocol for identifying cardiac inflammation and/or a delayed-enhancement magnetic resonance imaging protocol for identifying diffuse fibrosis.
8. The medical system according to any one of claims 1 to 7 , wherein the preliminary three-dimensional cardiac image is motion-decomposed, the deformable cardiac model is motion-decomposed, and the adapted cardiac model is motion-decomposed.
9. The execution of the aforementioned machine-executable instruction further involves the computing system, Determining a set of field deformations between different cardiac and/or respiratory phases of the adapted cardiac model, The medical system according to claim 8, wherein, in order to perform motion correction, the system reconstructs a magnetic resonance image from the motion-resolved k-space data according to motion-compensated magnetic resonance imaging reconstruction using the set of field deformations between different cardiac and/ or respiratory phases.
10. A magnetic resonance imaging system that acquires k-space data lines from the chest region of the subject, A memory for storing machine-executable instructions and pulse sequence commands, wherein the pulse sequence command repeatedly acquires the lines of k-space data according to a three-dimensional self-propelled cardiac magnetic resonance imaging protocol, the pulse sequence command repeatedly acquires the lines of k-space data for a predetermined region of interest, and the memory further includes a deformable cardiac model, the deformable cardiac model is three-dimensional, and the deformable cardiac model further defines a set of planes. A computing system wherein the execution of the machine executable instruction is performed by the computing system, By controlling the magnetic resonance imaging system with the aforementioned pulse sequence command, the lines of k-space data are repeatedly acquired. When the k-space data is acquired, the k-space data that has been decomposed from the line of the k-space data is repeatedly aggregated using at least one cardiac phase and one respiratory phase of the subject, During the acquisition of the k-space data, at least a portion of the motion-decomposed k-space data is read out. Before the acquisition of the aforementioned lines of k-space data is completed, a preliminary three-dimensional cardiac image is constructed using at least a portion of the motion-decomposed k-space data, A fitted cardiac model is constructed by fitting the deformable cardiac model to the preliminary three-dimensional cardiac image, wherein the fitting of the deformable cardiac model to the preliminary three-dimensional cardiac image adjusts the location of the set of planes in the fitted cardiac model, and the set of planes includes at least one cardiac observation plane. To provide at least one cardiac observation surface A computing system that performs this task Equipped with, A medical system in which at least a portion of the motion-decomposed k-space data is read out once during the acquisition of the k-space data, either after a predetermined acquisition duration or after a predetermined number of k-space data acquisitions, and at least a portion of the motion-decomposed k-space data is read out repeatedly during the acquisition of the k-space data, and the preliminary three-dimensional cardiac image is reconstructed from the motion-decomposed k-space data in iterative steps.
11. The aforementioned predetermined region of interest has a volume greater than 750 cubic centimeters. The medical system according to any one of claims 1 to 10 , wherein the machine-executable instruction disables the adjustment of the predetermined region of interest, and any combination thereof is applied.
12. A computer program comprising machine-executable instructions for execution by a computing system that controls a magnetic resonance imaging system that acquires k-space data lines from the chest region of a subject, The execution of the machine executable instruction in the computing system The process involves repeatedly acquiring the lines of k-space data by controlling the magnetic resonance imaging system with pulse sequence commands, wherein the pulse sequence commands repeatedly acquire the lines of k-space data in accordance with a three-dimensional self-propelled cardiac magnetic resonance imaging protocol, and the pulse sequence commands repeatedly acquire the lines of k-space data for a predetermined region of interest. When the k-space data is acquired, the k-space data that has been decomposed from the line of the k-space data is repeatedly aggregated using at least one cardiac phase and one respiratory phase of the subject, During the acquisition of the k-space data, at least a portion of the motion-decomposed k-space data is read out. Before the acquisition of the aforementioned lines of k-space data is completed, a preliminary three-dimensional cardiac image is constructed using at least a portion of the motion-decomposed k-space data, A fitted cardiac model is constructed by fitting a three-dimensional deformable cardiac model to the preliminary three-dimensional cardiac image, wherein the deformable cardiac model further defines a set of planes, and the fitting of the deformable cardiac model to the preliminary three-dimensional cardiac image adjusts the location of the set of planes within the fitted cardiac model, wherein the set of planes includes at least one cardiac observation plane. To provide at least one cardiac observation surface , The three-dimensional self-propelled cardiac magnetic resonance imaging protocol is a functional cardiac imaging protocol for reconstructing a cine image sequence, and the execution of the machine-executable instructions is further performed on the computing system. Reconstructing the cine image sequence from the motion-decomposed k-space data after the acquisition of the k-space data is completed, wherein the fitting of the deformable heart model to the preliminary three-dimensional heart image begins before or simultaneously with the reconstruction of the cine image sequence. Rendering at least a portion of the cine image sequence as seen from at least one cardiac observation plane. A computer program that performs an action .
13. A method for operating a magnetic resonance imaging system, wherein the magnetic resonance imaging system acquires k-space data lines from the chest region of a subject, and the method A step of repeatedly acquiring the lines of k-space data by controlling the magnetic resonance imaging system with a pulse sequence command, wherein the pulse sequence command repeatedly acquires the lines of k-space data in accordance with a three-dimensional self-propelled cardiac magnetic resonance imaging protocol, and the pulse sequence command repeatedly acquires the lines of k-space data for a predetermined region of interest. The steps include repeatedly aggregating the k-space data that has been decomposed from the line of the k-space data using at least one cardiac phase and one respiratory phase of the subject when the k-space data is acquired, The steps include reading out at least a portion of the motion-decomposed k-space data while acquiring the k-space data, The steps include constructing a preliminary three-dimensional cardiac image using at least a portion of the motion-decomposed k-space data before the acquisition of the lines of the k-space data is completed, A step of configuring a fitted cardiac model by fitting a three-dimensional deformable cardiac model to the preliminary three-dimensional cardiac image, wherein the deformable cardiac model further defines a set of planes, and the fitting of the deformable cardiac model to the preliminary three-dimensional cardiac image adjusts the location of the set of planes in the fitted cardiac model, and the set of planes includes at least one cardiac observation plane. The step of providing at least one cardiac observation surface, The aforementioned three-dimensional self-propelled cardiac magnetic resonance imaging protocol is a functional cardiac imaging protocol for reconstructing cine image sequences, and the method further comprises After the acquisition of the k-space data is completed, a step of reconstructing the cine image sequence from the motion-decomposed k-space data, wherein the fitting of the deformable heart model to the preliminary three-dimensional heart image begins before or simultaneously with the reconstruction of the cine image sequence; A method comprising the step of rendering at least a portion of the cine image sequence as viewed from at least one cardiac observation plane .
14. The method according to claim 13 , further comprising the step of positioning the chest region of the subject within the predetermined region of interest.

Description

This invention relates to magnetic resonance imaging, and more particularly to cardiac magnetic resonance imaging. Various tomographic imaging techniques, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography, positron emission tomography (POST), and single-photon emission tomography (SMT), enable detailed visualization of a patient's anatomical structure. A common characteristic of all these imaging modalities is that acquiring the necessary medical imaging data for reconstructing the images requires considerable time. During the acquisition of medical imaging data, the patient may move voluntarily or unconsciously, which can lead to image corruption or artifacts. This is particularly true in cardiac imaging, where the patient's heart is beating. The patient may also breathe during cardiac imaging. The journal article Kustner, Thomas et al., "Fully self-gated free-running 3D Cardesian cardiac CINE with isotropic whole-heart coverage in less than 2 min," NMR in Biomedicine 34.1 (2021):e4409, discloses a free-breathing 3D Cartesian coordinate system cardiac cine scan with water-selective balanced steady-state free precession, describing spiral profile ordering, extrinsic-to-internal sampling, and continuous (non-EGG-synchronous) variable density Cartesian coordinate system sampling with acquisition-adaptive minute golden angle and alternating golden angle increments between spiral arms. The data are retrospectively binned based on respiratory and cardiac self-running signals. Translating images corrected for respiratory motion and resolved for cardiac motion are reconstructed within approximately 15 minutes using multi-bin patch-based low-rank reconstruction (MB-PROST). Respiratory motion resolution techniques are also being investigated. The proposed 3D Cartesian coordinate system cardiac cine is acquired in sagittal orientation for 1 minute 50 seconds against isotropic WH coverage of 1.9 mm³ . Left ventricular (LV) functional parameters and image quality derived from blinded readings of the proposed 3D cine framework are compared with conventional multi-slice 2D cine imaging in 10 healthy subjects and 10 subjects suspected of having cardiovascular disease. The present invention provides a medical system, a computer program, and a method in the independent claims. Embodiments are given in the dependent claims. There are several obstacles to performing cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). One major obstacle is that operators of the MRI system require detailed training to properly perform cardiac imaging. Another difficulty is that executing cardiac imaging protocols can be very time-consuming. The operator first places the patient in the MRI system, performs a planning scan, and then precisely positions the region of interest before beginning the diagnostic imaging. The embodiment provides a method for reducing the training burden on the operator, and, in some cases, a means for shortening the overall procedure time. To achieve this, the subject is placed in a magnetic resonance imaging system and begins to repeatedly acquire lines of k-space data (continuously in some examples). While acquiring lines of k-space data, these are aggregated into motion-resolved k-space data. While further acquisition of k-space data lines is still occurring, a portion of the motion-resolved k-space data is read out. This portion of the motion-resolved k-space data is used to aggregate preliminary 3D cardiac images (possibly using a compressed-sensor-reconstruction algorithm) before the acquisition of k-space data lines is completed. This has the advantage of providing the operator with images that can be used for further planning while the acquisition of k-space data lines is still occurring. This significantly accelerates the overall workflow. In one embodiment, the present invention provides a medical system comprising a magnetic resonance imaging system configured to acquire k-space data from the chest region of a subject. The chest region is considered to be a part of the subject's chest, including the subject's heart. The medical system further comprises a memory for storing machine-executable instructions and pulse sequence commands. A pulse sequence command is either a command used to control the magnetic resonance imaging system according to a magnetic resonance imaging protocol, or data that is converted into such a command. For example, a pulse sequence command may be a timing diagram for controlling different components of the magnetic resonance imaging system. The pulse sequence command is configured to repeatedly acquire lines of k-space data according to a three-dimensional self-propelled cardiac magnetic resonance imaging protocol. In some examples, the same line of k-space data is repeatedly acquired. In other examples, lines of k-space data are modified to reduce the likelihood that they will be acquired for the same location. For example, the acquired k-space data may be a rotated line or spoke o