Decoding the human brain tissue response to radiofrequency excitation using a biophysical-model-free deep MRI on a chip framework

Abstract

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) relies on radiofrequency (RF) excitation of proton spin. Clinical diagnosis requires a comprehensive collation of biophysical data via multiple MRI contrasts, acquired using a series of RF sequences that lead to lengthy examinations. Here, we developed a vision transformer-based framework that captures the spatiotemporal magnetic signal evolution and decodes the brain tissue response to RF excitation, constituting an MRI on a chip. Following a per-subject rapid calibration scan (28.2 s), a wide variety of image contrasts including fully quantitative molecular, water relaxation, and magnetic field maps can be generated automatically. The method was validated across healthy subjects and a cancer patient in two different imaging sites, and proved to be 94% faster than alternative protocols. The deep MRI on a chip (DeepMonC) framework may reveal the molecular composition of the human brain tissue in a wide range of pathologies, while offering clinically attractive scan times.

This project was funded by the European Union (ERC, BabyMagnet, project no. 101115639). Views and opinions expressed are however those of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Council. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them

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