Rapid and accurate navigators for motion and B0 tracking using QUEEN: Quantitatively enhanced parameter estimation from navigators
Yannick Brackenier, Nan Wang, Congyu Liao, Xiaozhi Cao, Sophie Schauman, Mahmut Yurt, Lucilio Cordero-Grande, Shaihan J. Malik, Adam Kerr, Joseph V. Hajnal, Kawin Setsompop
Abstract
Purpose
To develop a framework that jointly estimates rigid motion and polarizing magnetic field (B0) perturbations δB_0 for brain MRI using a single navigator of a few milliseconds in duration, and to additionally allow for navigator acquisition at arbitrary timings within any type of sequence to obtain high-temporal resolution estimates.
Theory and Methods
Methods exist that match navigator data to a low-resolution single-contrast image (scout) to estimate either motion or δB_0. In this work, called QUEEN (QUantitatively Enhanced parameter Estimation from Navigators), we propose combined motion and δB_0 estimation from a fast, tailored trajectory with arbitrary-contrast navigator data. To this end, the concept of a quantitative scout (Q-Scout) acquisition is proposed from which contrast-matched scout data is predicted for each navigator. Finally, navigator trajectories, contrast-matched scout, and δB_0 are integrated into a motion-informed parallel-imaging framework.
Results
Simulations and in vivo experiments show the need to model δB_0 to obtain accurate motion parameters estimated in the presence of strong δB_0. Simulations confirm that tailored navigator trajectories are needed to robustly estimate both motion and δB_0. Furthermore, experiments show that a contrast-matched scout is needed for parameter estimation from multicontrast navigator data. A retrospective, in vivo reconstruction experiment shows improved image quality when using the proposed Q-Scout and QUEEN estimation.
Conclusions
We developed a framework to jointly estimate rigid motion parameters and δB_0 from navigators. Combing a contrast-matched scout with the proposed trajectory allows for navigator deployment in almost any sequence and/or timing, which allows for higher temporal-resolution motion and δB_0estimates.