快速核磁共振成像技術問世

為了能夠進行快速核磁共振掃描，醫生們一直在和那些不停扭動的兒童進行鬥智。
如今，幸虧更快速的核磁共振成像（MRI ）技術的研製成功，他們可能再也不用焦慮如何讓自己的病人保持長時間的靜止了。
照片中所展示的對一名6歲先天性心髒病患者的心臟血流情況進行的成像僅需要10分鐘，而非傳統MRI所需的1 個小時。
為了進行更快速的成像，研究人員採用了與JPEG 壓縮類似的算法。
美國加利福尼亞大學伯克利分校的Michael Lustig 和同事於2 月19 日在加拿大溫哥華舉行的美國科學促進會年會上報告了這一研究成果。
所謂的壓縮傳感MRI 在時間和空間上提供了一種拍攝軟組織圖像的更快速的途徑。
與捕捉所有的數據點不同，這項技術會隨機地記錄數據，進而繪製出一個稀疏的圖像。
這種不完整的影像在掃描後會由顯示每個像素最簡單的解決方案的算法進行填充。
雖然研究人員仍在完善這種快速掃描技術，但有少數診所已經開始用它來減少掃描時間了。

VANCOUVER, CANADA—Doctors struggle to keep squirming children still for long scans. Now, thanks to faster magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), they may no longer have to worry about keeping their patients still for so long. The above image of the blood flow through the heart of a 6-year-old with a congenital heart defect was acquired in 10 minutes rather than an hour, as with traditional MRI. To take faster images, researchers use algorithms similar to JPEG compression, they reported here today at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (which publishes ScienceNOW). So-called compressed sensing MRIs offer a quicker way to snap pictures of soft tissues in time and space. Instead of capturing all data points, this technique records data randomly, drawing a sparse image. The incomplete pictures are filled in after the scan by algorithms that reveal the simplest solution for each pixel. While researchers are still perfecting this quick scanning method, a handful of clinics are already using it to slash scan times.

原文出處：http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2012/02/scienceshot-medical-imaging-in-a.html?ref=hp