Motion correction of multi-contrast images applied to T1 and T2 quantification in cardiac MRI

Object The ability to manipulate image contrast and thus to obtain complementary information is one of the main advantages of MRI. Motion consistency within the whole data set is a key point in the context of multi contrast imaging. In cardiac and abdominal MRI, the acquisition strategy uses multiple breath-holds and often relies on acceleration methods that inherently suffer from a signal-to-noise ratio loss. The aim of this work is to propose a free-breathing multi-contrast acquisition and reconstruction workflow to improve image quality and the subsequent data analysis. Materials and methods We extended a previously proposed motion-compensated image reconstruction method for multi-contrast imaging. Shared information throughout the imaging protocol is now exploited by the image reconstruction in the form of an additional constraint based on image gradient sparsity. This constraint helps to mini-mize the amount of data needed for efficient non-rigid motion correction. T-1 and T-2 weighted images were reconstructed from free-breathing acquisitions in 4 healthy volunteers and in a phantom. The impact of multi-contrast motion correction was evaluated in a phantom in terms of precision and accuracy of T-1 and T-2 quantification. Results In the phantom, the proposed method achieved an accuracy of 97.5 % on the quantified parameters against 88.0 % before motion correction. In volunteers, motion inconsistency in T-1 and T-2 quantification were noticeably reduced within 5 min of free-breathing acquisition. Conclusion An efficient, free-breathing, multi-contrast imaging method has been demonstrated that does not require prior assumptions about contrast and that is applicable to a wide range of examinations.