NONSUBTRACTIVE MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING OF BLOOD FLOW

TECHNICAL RESEARCH ASSOCIATES, INC. PROPOSES TO ADAPT DIGITAL TRANSFORM TECHNOLOGIES TO IMPROVE UPON THE CLINICAL EFFECTIVENESS OF ANGIOGRAPHIC IMAGING. THIS TECHNOLOGY, WHEN APPLIED TO MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING (MRI), WILL PERMIT THE IMAGING OF VASCULATURE IN ISOLATION FROM THE OVERLYING BONE AND TISSUE STRUCTURES WITHOUT THE NECESSITY OF APPLYING CUMBERSOME AND INEFFICIENT SUBTRACTION TECHNIQUES. THE CLINICAL USE OF MRI FOR VASCULAR IMAGING HAS THE ADDED ADVANTAGE OF BEING NONINVASIVE, AS COMPARED TO X-RAY IMAGING, WHICH EXPOSES THE PATIENT TO HAZARDOUS, PENETRATING, IONIZING RADIATION. THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROJECT IS TO VISUALIZE THE BLOOD VESSELS WHILE ELIMINATING THE UNWANTED SUPERPOSITION OF EXTRAVASCULAR BONE AND TISSUE STRUCTURES, WHICH IS THE CENTRAL PROBLEM OF ANGIOGRAPHY. TWO-DIMENSIONAL FOURIER IMAGING IS PROPOSED FOR PRODUCING CROSS-SECTIONAL IMAGES USING 180 DEGREES RF-EXCITATION AND MULTISLICE HADAMARD CODING. COMPUTER SIMULATIONS AND NUMERICAL IMPLEMENTATIONS WILL BE THE MAIN FOCUS OF PHASE I WORK. PROJECTION RECONSTRUCTION IMAGING AND EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES WILL BE UNDERTAKEN IN PHASE II.