Rapid look-up table method for noise-corrected curve fitting in the R2* mapping of iron loaded liver

Fitting the measured decay signal to the first moment in the presence of noncentral chi noise (M(1) NCM) can correctly address the effect of noise on the effective transverse relaxation rate (R2*) relaxometry of iron loaded liver. However, this method requires intensive computation, which restricts its application to R2* mapping. This work aims to develop a rapid implementation of the M(1) NCM method for R2* mapping.

The computation of the confluent hypergeometric function in the M(1) NCM model was approximated using cubic spline interpolation with breakpoints and coefficients precalculated and stored in a look-up table (M(1) NCM-LUT). The performance of the proposed M(1) NCM-LUT method was evaluated through simulation and based on in vivo liver R2* relaxometry data.

In both simulation and in vivo studies, the maximum absolute difference between R2* maps generated by the M(1) NCM and M(1) NCM-LUT methods was nearly 10(-3) s(-1) or less, and the M(1) NCM-LUT method obtained a R2* map in approximately 1 s and achieved an acceleration of approximately five orders of magnitude.

The proposed M(1) NCM-LUT method can significantly increase the speed of the liver R2* mapping using the M(1) NCM model. This development is important in promoting application of this R2* mapping technique for tissue iron quantification.