US 11,815,584 B2
Method and apparatus for quasi-diffusion magnetic resonance imaging
Franklyn Arron Howe, Greater London (GB); Thomas Richard Barrick, Greater London (GB); and Matthew Hall, London (GB)
Assigned to ST GEORGE'S HOSPITAL MEDICAL SCHOOL, Tooting London (GB)
Appl. No. 17/626,084
Filed by ST GEORGE'S HOSPITAL MEDICAL SCHOOL, Tooting London (GB)
PCT Filed Jul. 8, 2020, PCT No. PCT/GB2020/051639
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Jan. 10, 2022,
PCT Pub. No. WO2021/005363, PCT Pub. Date Jan. 14, 2021.
Claims priority of application No. 1909982 (GB), filed on Jul. 11, 2019.
Prior Publication US 2022/0381865 A1, Dec. 1, 2022
Int. Cl. G01R 33/563 (2006.01); A61B 5/055 (2006.01); G01R 33/56 (2006.01)
CPC G01R 33/56341 (2013.01) [A61B 5/055 (2013.01); G01R 33/5608 (2013.01)] 21 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method comprising:
scanning a target object using a magnetic resonance scanner to generate nuclear magnetic resonance, NMR, data of the target object;
receiving, by a computer configured to execute instructions stored on a non-transitory computer-readable medium, the NMR data of the target object; and
executing, by the computer, the instructions stored on the non-transitory computer-readable medium to analyse the received NMR data using a model of the diffusive behaviour of particles within the target object, wherein:
the model includes a time parameter and a space parameter, the time parameter describing temporal characteristics of the diffusive behaviour of particles in the model and the space parameter describing spatial characteristics of the diffusive behaviour of particles in the model;
the model is constrained such that the value of the time parameter and the value of the space parameter are related according to a correlation function; and
the model comprises a random walk model,
characterised in that:
a) the space parameter describes a size of steps made by the particles in the random walk model and the space parameter is an exponent relating to a probability density function of steps made by the particles in the random walk model; and/or
b) the time parameter describes a time between steps made by the particles in the random walk model and the time parameter describes an exponent relating to a probability density function of time between steps made by the particles in the random walk model.