title: A network flow method for improved MR field map estimation in the presence of water and fat.
abstract: Field map estimation is an important problem in MRI, with applications such as water/fat separation and correction of fast acquisitions. However, it constitutes a nonlinear and severely ill-posed problem requiring regularization. In this paper, we introduce an improved method for regularized field map estimation, based on a statistically motivated formulation, as well as a novel algorithm for the solution of the corresponding optimization problem using a network flow approach. The proposed method provides theoretical guarantees (local optimality with respect to a large move), as well as an efficient implementation. It has been applied to the water/fat separation problem and tested on a number of challenging datasets, showing high-quality results.
authors.affiliation: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA. dhernan2@uiuc.edu
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hernando
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kellman
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Haldar
authors.forename: Z P
authors.initials: ZP
authors.lastname: Liang
mesh_terms: D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D000465:Algorithms; D001834:Body Water; D006321:Heart / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D006801:Humans; D007089:Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D010363:Pattern Recognition, Automated / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013382:Subtraction Technique