Quality assurance apparatus and method for magnetic resonance based radiation therapy planning

1. A phantom for quality assurance of a magnetic resonance (MR) imaging device, comprising:

a known three dimensional spatial distribution of MR and computer tomography (CT) imageable elements located in an MR and CT inert foam support, the spatial distribution being sized to completely fill an imaging volume of the magnetic resonance imaging device;

a reference column; and

an MR and CT inert external support structure, which surrounds and hermetically seals the foam support,

wherein the phantom weighs less than 18.2 kg (40 lbs.).

2. The phantom according to claim 1 , wherein the reference column is filled with material which provides at least one of:

a strong signal reference to a central magnetic resonance frequency;

a strong signal reference for radio frequency power calibration; and

a geometric reference in image planes.

3. The phantom according to claim 1 , wherein the phantom spans at least 40 cm in each of three spatial dimensions.

4. The phantom according to claim 1 , further including at least one of:

a desiccant sealed inside the phantom;

feet attached to the base of the phantom configured for leveling the phantom;

levels in two directions configured to indicate the level of the phantom; and

guidelines recessed on the outside of the phantom.

5. A system for quality assurance of a magnetic resonance (MR) imaging device, comprising:

a phantom, the phantom weighing less than 18.2 kg (40 lbs.) and including a known three dimensional spatial distribution of MR, and computer tomography (CT) imageable elements located in an MR and CT inert foam support, the spatial distribution being sized to completely fill an imaging volume of the magnetic resonance imaging device,

a reference column filled with a material which provides a reference signal at a central magnetic resonance frequency, and

an MR and CT inert external support structure, which surrounds and hermetically seals the foam support; and

one or more processors configured to:

acquire an MR image of the phantom with the MR imaging device,

identify locations of the imageable elements in the MR phantom image, and

compare the locations of the imageable elements from the MR phantom image with locations of the imagable elements in a previously acquired CT reference image.

6. The phantom according to claim 5 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

acquire the CT reference image of the phantom from a CT imaging device;

register the CT reference image and the MR image;

segment the CT image into unit cells based on the spatial distribution of imageable elements such that each imageable element is in one unit cell;

generate a template which includes the location of each imagable element;

correlate the location of each imageable element in the template with an associated volume in the MR image;

compute the maximum correlation; and

generate a distortion map based on the maximum correlation.

7. The system according to claim 2 , further including:

a non-transitory computer readable medium storage carrying at least one of the CT phantom image or the MR phantom image.

8. A method of quality assurance using a phantom for radiation therapy planning, comprising:

manually lifting a medical imaging phantom which weighs less than 18.2 kg into a magnetic resonance (MR) imaging device, and the medical imaging phantom including:

a known three dimensional spatial distribution of MR and computed tomography (CT) imageable elements located in an MR and CT inert foam support, the spatial distribution being sized to completely fill an imaging volume of the magnetic resonance imaging device;

a reference column including a material configured to resonate at a reference frequency; and

an MR and CT inert external support structure which surrounds and hermetically seals the foam support;

acquiring an MR phantom image with the MR imaging device, the MR phantom image depicting the MR imageable elements and the reference column.

9. The method according to claim 8 , further including:

acquiring a CT reference image of the phantom from a CT imaging device;

registering the CT reference image and the MR phantom image;

segmenting the CT reference image into unit cells based on the spatial distribution of imageable elements such that each imageable element is in one unit cell;

generating a template which includes the location of each imageable element;

correlating the location of each imageable element in the template with an associated volume in the MR phantom image;

computing a maximum correlation; and

generating a distortion map based on the maximum correlation.

10. The method according to claim 9 , further including:

repeating generating the distortion maps over time; and

comparing the distortion maps.

11. The method according to claim 8 , further including:

calculating centers of each imageable element in MR coordinates ( x , y , z ) using CT coordinates (x,y,z), represented as ν =ν+η ν (x, y, z) where ν is any one of the spatial dimensions (x,y,z), and η ν represents the induced distortion and is given

η

v

⁡

(

x

,

y

,

z

)

=

B

υ

N

⁡

(

r

,

θ

,

ϕ

)

G

υ

L

,

by where B υ N is the non-linear magnetic field due to the υ gradient channel expressed in spherical harmonics as:

B υ N ( r ,θ,ϕ)= B x(1,0) ( r ,θ,ϕ)+Σ n=2 Σ m B x(n,m) ( r ,θ,ϕ) and

B x(n,m) ( r ,θ,ϕ)= r n [a v(n,m) cos( m ϕ)+ b v(n,m) sin( m ϕ)] P (n,m) (cos θ)

where (r,θ,ϕ) are spherical coordinates, a v(n,m) and b v(n,m) are spherical harmonic co-efficients of degree n and order m, and P (n,m) is the associated Legendre polynomial of degree n and order m.

12. The method according to claim 8 , further including:

verifying the MR phantom image is the same as the phantom of the CT image based on an identity of the phantom; and

displaying on the display device a message that calibration is successful.

13. The method according to claim 10 , wherein the reference column is used to perform at least one of:

identifying a signal reference to a central magnetic resonance frequency;

identifying a signal reference for radio frequency power calibration; and

identifying a geometric reference in image planes.

14. The method according to claim 8 , further including:

comparing locations of the imageable elements from the MR phantom image with locations of the imageable elements in a previously acquired CT reference image; and

comparing the reference frequency to a target central magnetic resonance frequency of the MR imaging device.

15. A system comprising:

a magnetic resonance (MR) imaging device having an imaging volume of the MR imaging device, the MR imaging device being configured to generate MR images of objects disposed in the imaging volume; and

a phantom for quality assurance of the magnetic resonance (MR) imaging device, the phantom weighing less than 18.2 kg (40 lbs.), and including:

a three dimensional spatial distribution of MR and computer tomography (CT) imageable elements located in an MR and CT inert foam support, the spatial distribution being sized to completely fill the imaging volume;

a reference column for spatial referencing of the imageable elements, the reference column being filled with material configured to provide a signal reference at a central magnetic resonance frequency of the MR imaging device, and

an MR and CT inert external support structure which surrounds and hermetically seals the foam support.

16. The system according to claim 15 , wherein the foam support includes at least one of:

polystyrene;

polypropylene;

polyvinylchloride (PVC);

closed cell foam rubber;

aerogel;

paper;

cardboard;

balsa wood;

polyethylene; and

polyimide.

17. The system according to claim 15 , wherein the external support structure includes at least one of:

acrylic plastic;

polytetrafluoroethylene;

polyoxymethylene;

polycarbonate;

polythene;

polypropylene;

nylon;

fiberglass composite; and

plywood.

18. The system according to claim 15 , further including:

one or more processors configured to:

acquire an MR image of the phantom with the MR imaging device;

identify locations of the imageable elements in the MR phantom image;

compare the locations of the imageable elements from the MR phantom image with locations of the imageable elements in a previously acquired CT reference image.