Sensors 2014, 14(2), 2182-2198; doi:10.3390/s140202182
Optimal Configuration for Relaxation Times Estimation in Complex Spin Echo Imaging
1
Dipartimento di Ingegneria, Università degli Studi di Napoli Parthenope, Napoli 80143, Italy
2
Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie, Università degli Studi di Napoli Parthenope, Napoli 80143, Italy
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 27 November 2013 / Revised: 9 January 2014 / Accepted: 9 January 2014 / Published: 28 January 2014
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Magnetic Resonance Sensors)
Abstract
Many pathologies can be identified by evaluating differences raised in the physical parameters of involved tissues. In a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) framework, spin-lattice T1 and spin-spin T2 relaxation time parameters play a major role in such an identification. In this manuscript, a theoretical study related to the evaluation of the achievable performances in the estimation of relaxation times in MRI is proposed. After a discussion about the considered acquisition model, an analysis on the ideal imaging acquisition parameters in the case of spin echo sequences, i.e., echo and repetition times, is conducted. In particular, the aim of the manuscript consists in providing an empirical rule for optimal imaging parameter identification with respect to the tissues under investigation. Theoretical results are validated on different datasets in order to show the effectiveness of the presented study and of the proposed methodology. View Full-TextKeywords:
Magnetic Resonance Imaging; complex decomposition; statistical signal processing; Cramer–Rao lower bounds; relaxation time estimation
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MDPI and ACS Style
Baselice, F.; Ferraioli, G.; Grassia, A.; Pascazio, V. Optimal Configuration for Relaxation Times Estimation in Complex Spin Echo Imaging. Sensors 2014, 14, 2182-2198.