High-Resolution Magnetic Resonance Imaging Using Compressed Sensing for Intracranial and Extracranial Arteries: Comparison with Conventional Parallel Imaging

OBJECTIVE: To compare conventional sensitivity encoding (SENSE) to compressed sensing plus SENSE (CS) for high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (HR-MRI) of intracranial and extracranial arteries. MATERIALS AND METHODS: HR-MRI was performed in 14 healthy volunteers. Three-dimensional T1-weighted imaging (T1WI) and proton density-weighted imaging (PD) were acquired using CS or SENSE under the same total acceleration factors (AF(t))-5.5, 6.8, and 9.7 for T1WI and 3.2, 4.0, and 5.8 for PD-to achieve reduced scanning times in comparison with the original imaging sequence (SENSE T1WI, AF(t) 3.5; SENSE PD, AF(t) 2.0) using the 3-tesla system. Two neuroradiologists measured signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR), and used visual scoring systems to assess image quality. Acceptable imaging was defined as a visual score ≥ 2. Repeated measures analysis of variance and Cochran's Q test were performed. RESULTS: CS yielded better image quality and vessel delineation than SENSE in T1WI with AF(t) of 5.5, 6.8, and 9.7, and in PD with AF(t) of 5.8 (p 0.05). SNR and CNR in CS were higher than they were in SENSE, but lower than they were in the original images (p < 0.05). CS yielded higher proportions of acceptable imaging than SENSE (CS T1WI with AF(t) of 6.8 and PD with AF(t) of 5.8; p < 0.0167). CONCLUSION: CS is superior to SENSE, and may be a reliable acceleration method for vessel HR-MRI using AF(t) of 5.5 for T1WI, and 3.2 and 4.0 for PD.

Electrical impedance tomography system for body complex impedance / 医疗卫生装备

A master-slave electrical impedance tomography (EIT) system for body complex impedance based on digital signal processor (DSP) is designed in this paper. Used as the master computer, a PC performs the image reconstruction and display on time, while DSP carries out such tasks as electrode selection, data acquisition and data communication with the master. Based on DDS technique, the signal generator can create the sine wave signals, and it's amplitude, frequency and phase can be continuously adjusted. The designed feedback unit can improve the linearity and the stability of the voltage-controlled current source effectively. Undersampling technology and digital demodulation technology are used in this system in order to attain the information of real and imaginary components of the body complex impedance. Back projection method is adopted to reconstruct the image in this system. Experimental results show that this system improves the data acquisition speed and the image resolution.