Purpose: To accelerate parameter mapping using a new paradigm that combines image reconstruction and model regression as a parameter state-tracking problem.
Methods: In T2 mapping, the T2 map is first encoded in parameter space by multi-TE measurements and then encoded by Fourier transformation with readout/phase encoding gradients. Using a state transition function and a measurement function, the unscented Kalman filter can describe T2 mapping as a dynamic system and directly estimate the T2 map from the k-space data. The proposed method was validated with a numerical brain phantom and volunteer experiments with a multiple-contrast spin echo sequence. Its performance was compared with a conjugate-gradient nonlinear inversion method at undersampling factors of 2 to 8. An accelerated pulse sequence was developed based on this method to achieve prospective undersampling.
Results: Compared with the nonlinear inversion reconstruction, the proposed method had higher precision, improved structural similarity and reduced normalized root mean squared error, with acceleration factors up to 8 in numerical phantom and volunteer studies.
Conclusion: This work describes a new perspective on parameter mapping by state tracking. The unscented Kalman filter provides a highly accelerated and efficient paradigm for T2 mapping.
Keywords: accelerated imaging; p-space; parameter mapping; unscented Kalman filter.
© 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.