Maxwell Parallel Imaging

TL;DR

This paper introduces Maxwell Parallel Imaging (MPI), a physics-inspired framework that improves image reconstruction in parallel imaging by using Maxwell equations for sensitivity map estimation and constrained optimization for the images.

Contribution

The novel MPI method leverages Maxwell equations for sensitivity map regularization and a constrained optimization scheme, enabling accurate, flexible, and efficient reconstruction for various sequences and sampling schemes.

Findings

MPI outperforms state-of-the-art PI methods across multiple datasets.

MPI reduces memory footprint via tensor decomposition.

MPI works effectively for 2D and 3D reconstructions with arbitrary trajectories.

Abstract

Purpose: To develop a general framework for Parallel Imaging (PI) with the use of Maxwell regularization for the estimation of the sensitivity maps (SMs) and constrained optimization for the parameter-free image reconstruction. Theory and Methods: Certain characteristics of both the SMs and the images are routinely used to regularize the otherwise ill-posed optimization-based joint reconstruction from highly accelerated PI data. In this paper we rely on a fundamental property of SMs--they are solutions of Maxwell equations-- we construct the subspace of all possible SM distributions supported in a given field-of-view, and we promote solutions of SMs that belong in this subspace. In addition, we propose a constrained optimization scheme for the image reconstruction, as a second step, once an accurate estimation of the SMs is available. The resulting method, dubbed Maxwell Parallel Imaging (MPI), works seamlessly for arbitrary sequences (both 2D and 3D) with any trajectory and minimal calibration signals. Results: The effectiveness of MPI is illustrated for a wide range of datasets with various undersampling schemes, including radial, variable-density Poisson-disc, and Cartesian, and is compared against the state-of-the-art PI methods. Finally, we include some numerical experiments that demonstrate the memory footprint reduction of the constructed Maxwell basis with the help of tensor decomposition, thus allowing the use of MPI for full 3D image reconstructions. Conclusions: The MPI framework provides a physics-inspired optimization method for the accurate and efficient image reconstruction from arbitrary accelerated scans.