A Novel MRI Framework for the Quantification of Any Moment of Arbitrary Velocity Distributions

Petter Dyverfeldt¹, Andreas Sigfridsson¹, Hans Knutsson¹, Tino Ebbers¹

Under the assumption that the intravoxel velocity distribution is symmetric about its mean, the well-known MRI phase-difference method permits an estimation of the mean velocity of a voxel. The mean velocity corresponds to the first moment of the velocity distribution. Here, a novel framework for the quantification of any moment of arbitrary spin velocity distributions is presented. Simulations on realistic velocity distributions demonstrate its application. The presented moment framework may assist in improving the understanding of existing MRI methods for the quantification of flow and motion and serve as a basis for the development of new methods.