Iron quantification in Parkinson's disease using an age-based threshold on susceptibility maps: The advantage of local versus entire structure iron content measurements.

Background: Elevated brain iron has been observed in Idiopathic Parkinson's disease (IPD) within the deep gray matter. Using quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) and a thresholded high-iron region, we quantified iron content in the midbrain of patients with Parkinson's disease as a function of age.

Methods: We used MRI to scan 24 IPD patients at 3-Tesla.

Effect of Day Optimizing Throughput (Dot) Knee Software Implementation on Magnetic Resonance Imaging Workflow Efficiency.

Purpose: Attempts by magnetic resonance (MR) manufacturers to help imaging centres improve patient throughput has led to the development of more automated acquisition. This software is capable of customizing individual scan alignment; potentially improving imaging efficiency and standardizing protocols. However, substantial investments are required to introduce such systems, potentially deterring their widespread application.

Computationally rapid method of estimating signal-to-noise ratio for phased array image reconstructions.

Measuring signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for parallel MRI reconstructions is difficult due to spatially dependent noise amplification. Existing approaches for measuring parallel MRI SNR are limited because they are not applicable to all reconstructions, require significant computation time, or rely on repeated image acquisitions. A new SNR estimation approach is proposed, a hybrid of the repeated image acquisitions method detailed in the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) standard and the Monte Carlo based pseudo-multiple replica method, in which the difference between images reconstructed from the unaltered acquired data and that same data reconstructed after the addition of calibrated pseudo-noise is used to estimate the noise in the parallel MRI image reconstruction.