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On the limitations of partial Fourier acquisition in phase‐contrast MRI of turbulent kinetic energy
Author(s) -
Walheim Jonas,
Gotschy Alexander,
Kozerke Sebastian
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
magnetic resonance in medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.696
H-Index - 225
eISSN - 1522-2594
pISSN - 0740-3194
DOI - 10.1002/mrm.27397
Subject(s) - fourier transform , fourier analysis , turbulence kinetic energy , sampling (signal processing) , iterative reconstruction , turbulence , phase (matter) , mathematics , physics , optics , computer science , mathematical analysis , computer vision , quantum mechanics , detector , thermodynamics
Purpose: To investigate limitations of partial Fourier acquisition in phase‐contrast MRI of turbulent kinetic energy (TKE). Methods: To assess the validity of partial Fourier reconstruction of TKE and phase images, computational fluid dynamics data of mean and turbulent velocities in a stenotic U‐bend phantom was used. Partial Fourier acquisition with 75% k‐space coverage was simulated and TKE data were reconstructed using zero‐filling, homodyne reconstruction, and the method of projections onto convex sets (POCS). Results were compared to data from fully sampled k‐space and 75% symmetric sampling. In addition, compressed sensing (CS) reconstruction was compared for a standard variable density sampling pattern and a variable density sampling pattern combined with 75% partial Fourier. For illustration purposes, in vivo examples of velocity magnitude and TKE maps of aortic flow reconstructed with the different methods are provided. Results: In accordance with theory, partial Fourier reconstruction of TKE maps from phase‐contrast data results in artifacts relative to fully sampled data. It is demonstrated that neither homodyne reconstruction nor POCS can improve reconstruction of TKE data with respect to zero‐filling reconstruction when compared to ground‐truth (RMS error: 4.70%, 4.34%, and 2.45% for homodyne, POCS, and zero‐filling reconstruction of in vivo data, respectively). CS reconstruction from data acquired with partial Fourier did not recover the resolution loss incurred by partial Fourier sampling. Conclusion: Partial Fourier reconstruction of TKE maps from phase‐contrast data does not yield a benefit over zero‐filling reconstruction. In consequence, symmetric sampling is preferred over partial Fourier acquisition for a given number of phase‐encodes in phase‐contrast MRI.