Real-Time Artefact Corrections for Quantitative MR Temperature Mapping

Baudouin Denis de Senneville, Pascal Desbarats, Bruno Quesson, Chrit T.W. Moonen
RMSB / CNRS UMR 5536
Université Bordeaux 2
146, rue Léo Saignat
F-33076 Bordeaux
FRANCE

e-mail: {baudouin,desbarats,quesson,moonen}@rmsb.u-bordeaux2.fr

Keywords: MRI, temperature maps, real-time image processing

Abstract

In addition to its well-established role as a diagnostic modality, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is becoming increasingly important in therapeutic techniques. The quasi real-time acquisition of images allows control during the medical procedures. Apart from anatomical and physiological imaging, MRI can also be used to produce temperature maps. Our objective is to obtain such maps in real-time to monitor mini-invasive thermal therapies. The acquisition procedure of temperature MRI produces specific artefacts: noise generated by the MRI system itself, motions of the patient, and geometrical distortions. Since these artefacts are in part different in temperature mapping as compared to anatomical mapping, they need to be analyzed specifically. In this paper, we present physical analysis of these sources of artefacts and we propose to attenuate them either by adapting the acquisition methods or by appropriate real-time processing.