SAMPL MRI Simulator
G. Mazor, L. Weizman, M. Rom, R. Farkash and Y. C. Eldar
We present an open source code that simulates the acquisition of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrasts, given quantitative maps of T1 and T2 relaxation times, together with proton density (PD).
Introduction
A clinical MRI exam consisting of multiple weighted-MRI contrasts requires long scanning time,
and may last around one hour for a single patient. A challenge in MRI imaging today is to produce MRI contrasts fast,
yet keeping the required resolution for clinical diagnostics. One of the techniques to achieve this task,
is to acquire the patient's quantitative MRI maps fast (references: [1], [2]), and then to simulate,
off-line, the different imaging contrasts used for diagnostics.
Main Idea
SAMPL MRI simulator is an open Matlab code that produces common weighted MRI contrasts, given T1, T2 and PD quantitative maps.
It simulates MRI basic sequences such as: SE, FSE, IR and FLAIR. Each sequence contains a pulse sequence diagram and a short explanation.
The simulator allows controlling each sequence's specific parameters such as: TR, TE and TI time constants and the ETL number.
The output is a weighted imaging contrast of a certain sequence. The simulator is useful for both teaching and research purposes.
The simulator contains mainly adult brain sequence protocols contributed by the Radiology department of RAMBAM hospital.
A video that demonstrates a simple use of the simulator:
References
[1] D. Ma, V. Gulani, N. Seiberlich, K. Liu, J. L. Sunshine, J. L. Duerk, M. A. Griswold, Magnetic resonance fingerprinting, Nature 495 (7440) (2013) 187-192.
