A 3D wavelet fusion approach for the reconstruction of isotropic-resolution MR images from orthogonal anisotropic-resolution scans

Hardware constraints, scanning time limitations, patient movement, and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) considerations, restrict the slice-selection and the in-plane resolutions of MRI differently, generally resulting in anisotropic voxels. This nonuniform sampling can be problematic, especially in image segmentation and clinical examination. To alleviate this, the acquisition is divided into (two or) three separate scans, with higher in-plane resolutions and thick slices, yet orthogonal slice-selection directions. In this work, a noniterative wavelet-based approach for combining the three orthogonal scans is adopted, and its advantages compared with other existing methods, such as Fourier techniques, are discussed, including the consideration of the actual pulse response of the MRI scanner, and its lower computational complexity. Experimental results are shown on simulated and real 7 T MRI data. Magn Reson Med, 2011. (C) 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc.