Ryan Chamberlain1, Thomas M. Wengenack2,
Joseph F. Poduslo2, Clifford R. Jack3, Michael Garwood1
1Center for Magnetic Resonance
Research, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States; 2Departments
of Neurology, Neuroscience, and Biochemistry/Molecular Biology, Mayo Clinic
College of Medicine, Rochester, MN, United States; 3Department of
Radiology, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, MN, United States
Many
MRI applications require visualizing structures on the order of a few pixels
in size. In these applications the CNR
ratio of the small structures is more important than the SNR of the image. The CNR can be affected dramatically by the
image resolution relative to the size of the structure, but the exact
relation of resolution and CNR depends on the specific structure and pulse
sequence. This work describes an
automated method to determine the acquired image resolution to optimize the
CNR of small structures. It is
demonstrated as applied to imaging amyloid plaques in transgenic mouse models
of Alzheimer's disease.
Keywords