The present invention relates to on the use of exogenous agents having a pool of mobile proton(s) in CEST-MR imaging to generate Chemical Exchange Rotation Transfer-based CEST contrast, and to a ratiometric-based CEST-MR procedure that comprises using these exogenous agents to set-up CERT-based concentration-independent CEST MR imaging, and as responsive agents to set-up CERT-based concentration independent responsiveness.

Some aspects of the present disclosure relate to systems and methods for magnetic resonance thermometry. In one embodiment, a preliminary balanced steady state free precession (bSSFP) magnetic resonance imaging pulse sequence is applied to an area of interest of a subject. Based on bSSFP image phases, a relationship between frequency and image phase associated with the area of interest can be determined and a bSSFP magnetic resonance imaging pulse sequence applied for temperature change measurement during and/or after focused energy is applied to the subject. Based on image phase change associated with temperature change and using the determined relationship between frequency and image phase, a change in the resonance frequency associated with the target area due to the application of the focused energy can be determined, and the temperature change can be determined based on the determined change in the resonance frequency.

In one aspect, in accordance with one embodiment, a method includes acquiring magnetic resonance (MR) data corresponding to bone tissue in an area of interest of a subject that is heated from the application of localized energy. The acquiring includes applying a three-dimensional (3D) ultra-short echo time (UTE) spiral acquisition sequence. The method also includes detecting, from the acquired magnetic resonance data, a change in MR response signal due to a change in at least one of relaxation rate and magnetization density caused by heating of the bone tissue; and determining, based at least in part on the change in the MR response signal, that the temperature of the bone tissue has changed.

During operation, a system may apply an external magnetic field and an RF pulse sequence to a sample. Then, the system may measure at least a component of a magnetization associated with the sample, such as MR signals of one or more types of nuclei in the sample. Moreover, the system may calculate at least a predicted component of the magnetization for voxels associated with the sample based on the measured component of the magnetization, a forward model, the external magnetic field and the RF pulse sequence. Next, the system may solve an inverse problem by iteratively modifying the parameters associated with the voxels in the forward model until a difference between the predicted component of the magnetization and the measured component of the magnetization is less than a predefined value. Note that the calculations may be performed concurrently with the measurements and may not involve performing a Fourier transform.

The invention provides for a medical system (100, 300, 400, 500) comprising: a memory (110) for storing machine executable instructions (150) and a processor (104) for controlling the medical system. Execution of the machine executable instructions cause the processor to: receive (200) first electric properties tomography data (152) descriptive of a first spatially dependent mapping (166) of an RF electrical property within a region of interest (310) of a subject (318), wherein the RF electrical property is a real valued permittivity or real valued conductivity; receive (202) second electric properties tomography data (154) descriptive of a second spatially dependent mapping (168) of the spatially dependent RF electrical property within the region of interest of the subject; calculate (204) a change (160) in the spatially dependent RF electrical property derived from a difference between the first electric properties tomography data and the second electric properties tomography data; and calculate (206) a spatially dependent ablation map (164) by indicating regions within the region of interest where the change in the spatially dependent RF electrical property is above a predetermined threshold.

A method is used to operate an MR system having at least one MR body coil and a control device connected to the at least one MR body coil. At least one radiometer is used to measure a body temperature of a body region, which body region can be illuminated by the respective radiometer, of a patient to be examined by the MR system. The measured body temperature is compared with a limit temperature, and an MR transmit power directed at the patient is brought closer to the limit temperature on the basis of a result of the comparison. The radiometer operates, in particular, in a frequency band that differs from the MR band. An MR body coil for performing the method has at least one radiometer antenna and an amplifier connected downstream of the radiometer antenna. The MR body coil can also have an input blocking filter connected downstream of the radiometer antenna and designed to block the MR band.

System and methods that reconstruct absolute temperature using a multi-nuclear approach. Specifically, the methods and systems utilize independent NMR/MRI information provided by the precession frequency of two different nuclei to reconstruct a map of the absolute temperature.

Exemplary system, method and computer-accessible medium for estimating a temperature on a portion of a body of an anatomical structure(s) can be provided, using which it is possible to, for example, receive a plurality of magnetic resonance (MR) images for the anatomical structure(s), segment the MR images into a plurality of tissue types, mapping the tissue types to a tissue property(ies), and estimate the temperature on the portion of the body of the patient(s) using a neural network. The tissue property(ies) can include a conductivity, a permittivity, or a density. The density can be a mass cell density. The neural network can be a single neural network. The temperature can be estimated based on a set of vectors between points on the portion of the body and a temperature sensor. Each vector can correspond to a tissue thermal profile for each point.

The present disclosure is directed to systems and methods for generating images using short tau inversion recovery, ultrashort echo time (STIR-UTE) MRI sequences. The STIR-UTE MRI sequences can be used to generate images that can differentiate between regions that are at temperatures that are either lethal or non-lethal to cell life. Thus, these sequences can be beneficial for implementations such as in monitoring cryoablation procedures.

Various approaches to creating a treatment plan for a target include using the first imaging modality to acquire one or more images of the target during a time interval and based thereon determining information associated with the target; also during the time interval, using the second imaging modality having a higher rate of image capture than the first imaging modality to acquire a series of images of the first imageable object that has a relative location with respect to the target; in real time during the time interval, tracking movement of the anatomical target based on the one or more images thereof, the series of images of the first imageable object and the relative location of the first imageable object with respect to the target; and based at least in part on the tracked movement and the information associated with the anatomical target during the time interval, generating a treatment plan for treating the target.