Premium
WE‐G‐17A‐01: Improving Tracking Image Spatial Resolution for Onboard MR Image Guided Radiation Therapy Using the WHISKEE Technique
Author(s) -
Hu Y,
Mutic S,
Du D,
Green O,
Zeng Q,
Nana R,
Patrick J,
Shvartsman S,
Dempsey J
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
medical physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.473
H-Index - 180
eISSN - 2473-4209
pISSN - 0094-2405
DOI - 10.1118/1.4889503
Subject(s) - image resolution , computer vision , computer science , iterative reconstruction , artificial intelligence , image guided radiation therapy , undersampling , medical imaging
Purpose: To evaluate the feasibility of using the weighted hybrid iterative spiral k‐space encoded estimation (WHISKEE) technique to improve spatial resolution of tracking images for onboard MR image guided radiation therapy (MR‐IGRT). Methods: MR tracking images of abdomen and pelvis had been acquired from healthy volunteers using the ViewRay onboard MRIGRT system (ViewRay Inc. Oakwood Village, OH) at a spatial resolution of 2.0mm*2.0mm*5.0mm. The tracking MR images were acquired using the TrueFISP sequence. The temporal resolution had to be traded off to 2 frames per second (FPS) to achieve the 2.0mm in‐plane spatial resolution. All MR images were imported into the MATLAB software. K‐space data were synthesized through the Fourier Transform of the MR images. A mask was created to selected k‐space points that corresponded to the under‐sampled spiral k‐space trajectory with an acceleration (or undersampling) factor of 3. The mask was applied to the fully sampled k‐space data to synthesize the undersampled k‐space data. The WHISKEE method was applied to the synthesized undersampled k‐space data to reconstructed tracking MR images at 6 FPS. As a comparison, the undersampled k‐space data were also reconstructed using the zero‐padding technique. The reconstructed images were compared to the original image. The relatively reconstruction error was evaluated using the percentage of the norm of the differential image over the norm of the original image. Results: Compared to the zero‐padding technique, the WHISKEE method was able to reconstruct MR images with better image quality. It significantly reduced the relative reconstruction error from 39.5% to 3.1% for the pelvis image and from 41.5% to 4.6% for the abdomen image at an acceleration factor of 3. Conclusion: We demonstrated that it was possible to use the WHISKEE method to expedite MR image acquisition for onboard MR‐IGRT systems to achieve good spatial and temporal resolutions simultaneously. Y. Hu and O. green receive travel reimbursement from ViewRay. S. Mutic has consulting and research agreements with ViewRay. Q. Zeng, R. Nana, J.L. Patrick, S. Shvartsman and J.F. Dempsey are ViewRay employees.