Using data redundancy gained by patch overlaps to reduce truncation artifacts in magnetic particle imaging

Enthalten in
Physics in medicine and biology 
Volume
61
Issue
12
Start Page
4583
End Page
4598
Citation
Physics in Medicine and Biology 12 (61): 4583-4598 (2016-05-26)
Publisher DOI
10.1088/0031-9155/61/12/4583
The imaging technology magnetic particle imaging allows the detection of magnetic material, in particular superparamagnetic nanoparticles, by remagnetization of the material via magnetic fields. The application is aimed at medical imaging where the particles are applied as tracer directly into the blood stream. Medical safety considerations such as peripheral nerve stimulation limit the maximal amplitude of the magnetic fields and in turn the field of view size. To handle this constraint the concept of patches was introduced, which allows a shift of a field of view to different positions in order to enlarge the imaging area. If this is done statically an overlap of patches can be used to reduce truncation artifacts occurring at the adjacent edges. In this contribution, a differentiation of two different kinds of patch overlaps, i.e. a trajectory and a system matrix overlap, is made. Further, different concepts to combine the resulting redundant information are investigated with respect to the reduction of truncation artifacts. The methods are analyzed in detail in a simulation study and validated on experimental data.