Fast Phase Based Registration for Robust Quantitative MRI

Quantitative magnetic resonance imaging has the major advantage that it handles absolute measurements of physical parameters. Quantitative MRI can for example be used to estimate the amount of different tissue types in the brain, but other applications are possible. Parameters such as relaxation rates R1 and R2 and proton density (PD) are independent of MR scanner settings and imperfections and hence are directly representative of the underlying tissue characteristics. Brain tissue quantification is an important aid for diagnosis of neurological diseases, such as multiple sclerosis (MS) and dementia. It is applied to estimate the volume of each tissue type, such as white tissue, grey tissue, myelin and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Tissue that deviates from normal values can be found automatically using computer aided diagnosis. In order for the quantification to have a clinical value, both the time in the MR scanner and the time for the data analysis have to be minimized. A challenge in MR quantification is to keep the scan time within clinically acceptable limits. The quantification method that we have used is based on the work by Warntjes et al