A real-time reconstruction system for magnetic resonance imaging

A digital-electronic reconstruction system for MRI has been designed and demonstrated. The system is capable of reconstructing a 128 x 128 pixel image from complex-valued data in approximately 8 ms (122 frames per second) or a 256 x 256 pixel image in 32 ms (30 frames per second) using the standard 2D FFT reconstruction algorithm. Real-time MR imaging can be obtained when this reconstruction system is coupled with fast continuous echo-planar type data acquisition. This provides the unique potential for real-time monitoring of interventional procedures or for rapid patient positioning. The real-time reconstruction system presented here consists of four main subsystems: an analog to digital converter, an interface memory, the Fourier processor, and the display processor. The basic design of this reconstruction system is presented along with results, demonstrating the capability of the system.