WARF: P03191US
Isotropic Imaging of Vessels with Fat Suppression

INVENTORS

•

Walter Block, Thomas Grist, Aiming Lu

Vastly Under-sampled Isotropic Projection Reconstruction (VIPR) is a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data acquisition technique that provides high resolution images at speeds up to 30 times faster than conventional Cartesian methods (see link to WARF reference number P01008US below). By employing VIPR, a team of UW-Madison medical physicists has been able to create high resolution isotropic images of blood vessels during a two-minute scan without the need for a contrast agent. In addition, they have achieved excellent separation of fat and water and extremely short repetition times (TR) by using a radial acquisition. However, because only a single radial line is acquired during each TR, data sampling efficiency and signal-to-noise ratios tend to be low. In this invention, the researchers have extended an eddy current correction method to acquire a second radial line during the rephasing portion of the gradient waveform. Thus, this technology doubles the amount of data that can be acquired during any VIPR imaging sequence, resulting in greatly enhanced signal-to-noise ratios and image sharpness.

• Dampens lipid signals and suppresses fat in MRI images to aid clinical diagnosis
• Increases data acquisition efficiency, resulting in enhanced signal-to-noise ratios and image sharpness
• Includes methods that allow signal acquisition throughout the readout gradient without producing significant image artifacts

For current licensing status, please contact our team at licensing@warf.org or phone 608.262.4924. (Clicking this link will open a contact form in a popup window. If you have problems viewing the form, try disabling your popup blocker software.)