Convection-reaction equation based magnetic resonance electrical properties tomography (cr-MREPT)

Images of electrical conductivity and permittivity of tissues may be used for diagnostic purposes as well as for estimating local specific absorption rate distributions. Magnetic resonance electrical properties tomography (MREPT) aims at noninvasively obtaining conductivity and permittivity images at radio-frequency frequencies of magnetic resonance imaging systems. MREPT algorithms are based on measuring the B1 field which is perturbed by the electrical properties of the imaged object. In this study, the relation between the electrical properties and the measured B1 field is formulated for the first time as a well-known convection-reaction equation. The suggested novel algorithm, called "cr-MREPT," is based on the solution of this equation on a triangular mesh, and in contrast to previously proposed algorithms, it is applicable in practice not only for regions where electrical properties are relatively constant but also for regions where they vary. The convective field of the convection-reaction equation depends on the spatial derivatives of the B1 field, and in the regions where its magnitude is low, a spot-like artifact is observed in the reconstructed electrical properties images. For eliminating this artifact, two different methods are developed, namely "constrained cr-MREPT" and "double-excitation cr-MREPT." Successful reconstructions are obtained using noisy and noise-free simulated data, and experimental data from phantoms.