Imaging and diagnostic methods, systems, and computer-readable media

1. An imaging method comprising:

receiving a trigger signal;

after a period equal to a trigger delay minus an inversion delay, applying a single non-selective inversion radiofrequency pulse to a region of interest followed by a single slice-selective reinversion radiofrequency pulse to a slice of the region of interest of a subject;

after lapse of the trigger delay commenced at the trigger signal, acquiring a plurality of time-resolved cine images using an acquired k-space for each individual image using both phase and magnitude components of the k-space of the slice of the region of interest of the subject to obtain a plurality of time-resolved cine image frames of a vessel wall with an acquisition window of as short as 20 ms or less for each time-resolved cine image frame of the plurality of time-resolved cine image frames, wherein the plurality of time-resolved cine image frames are each a phase-sensitive, signed-magnitude, time-resolved image obtained using the entire acquired k-space;

applying a navigator pulse directly before acquiring the plurality of time-resolved cine images; and

tracking lung motion in order to compensate for lung-motion-induced changes in an anatomical location of the region of interest of the subject.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the trigger signal is a cardiac cycle signal.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the cardiac cycle signal is an R-wave.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the trigger delay corresponds to the time period between the cardiac cycle signal and a period of minimal myocardial motion.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the region of interest is a blood vessel.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the blood vessel is a coronary artery.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein the blood vessel is a peripheral vessel.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the peripheral vessel is selected to include at least one of:

a carotid artery, a femoral artery, a pulmonary artery, a gastrointestinal vessel, and a renal artery.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of time-resolved cine image frames are consecutive.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein a temporal offset between the plurality of time-resolved cine image frames is substantially uniform.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the temporal offset is between about 5 ms and about 50 ms.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of time-resolved cine image frames are captured between 150 ms and about 225 ms after application of the non-selective inversion radiofrequency pulse.

13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

storing the plurality of time-resolved cine image frames in a non-transitory computer-readable medium.

14. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

presenting the plurality of time-resolved cine image frames to a user;

receiving a selection of one or more images from the plurality of time-resolved cine image frames; and

calculating vessel thickness based on the one or more images.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein at least 75% of a vessel of interest is visible in the one or more images.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the trigger signal is based on a cardiac cycle; and

wherein the method is repeated: every cardiac cycle, every other cardiac cycle, or every nth cardiac cycle, wherein n is a positive integer.

17. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least 75% of a vessel of interest is visible in at least one of the plurality of time-resolved cine image frames.

18. The method of claim 1 , wherein the slice of the region of interest contains a cross-section of a vessel and wherein the method further comprises:

calculating a thickness of the vessel.

19. The method of claim 1 , wherein the slice is a two-dimensional slice.

20. The method of claim 1 , wherein the slice is a three-dimensional slice.

21. The imaging method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining a magnetic field phase of a vessel lumen image region, the vessel image lumen region comprising blood lumen, the vessel wall, and surrounding tissue zones;

utilizing discrepancies and polarity variations of the magnetic field phase of the vessel lumen image region of each of the plurality of time-resolved cine image frames to obtain a polarity image of the vessel wall and lumen; and

utilizing the polarity image of the vessel wall and lumen with a magnitude image of the plurality of time-resolved cine image frames to obtain multiple signed-magnitude images of the vessel wall at different time points.

22. A non-transitory computer readable medium containing program instructions that, when executed by a computer, configure the computer to:

receive a trigger signal;

after a period equal to a trigger delay minus an inversion delay, apply a single non-selective inversion radiofrequency pulse to a region of interest followed by a single slice-selective reinversion radiofrequency pulse to a slice of the region of interest of a subject;

after lapse of the trigger delay commenced at the trigger signal, acquire a plurality of time-resolved cine images of the slice of the region of interest of the subject from an imaging device using an acquired k-space for each individual image using both the phase and magnitude components of the k-space to obtain a plurality of time-resolved cine image frames with an acquisition window of as short as 20 ms or less for each time-resolved cine image frame of the plurality of time-resolved cine image frames, wherein the plurality of time-resolved cine image frames are each a phase-sensitive, signed-magnitude, time-resolved image obtained using the entire acquired k-space;

applying a navigator pulse directly before acquiring the plurality of time-resolved cine images; and

tracking lung motion in order to compensate for lung-motion-induced changes in an anatomical location of the region of interest of the subject.

23. A magnetic resonance imaging device comprising:

a magnetic field gradient controller programmed to control operation of a magnetic field gradient amplifier to alter a spinning frequency of atomic nuclei within a subject;

a radio frequency pulse controller programmed to control operation of a radiofrequency transmitter to apply radiofrequency pulses to a region of interest within the subject;

an analog/digital signal converter programmed to convert analog signals received by a radiofrequency receiver coil; and

an imaging sequence controller programmed to:

receive a trigger signal;

instruct the radiofrequency pulse controller to, after a period equal to a trigger delay minus an inversion delay, apply a single non-selective inversion radiofrequency pulse to the region of interest followed by a single slice-selective reinversion radiofrequency pulse to a slice of the region of interest;

instruct the analog/digital signal converter to, after lapse of the trigger delay commenced at the trigger signal, acquire a plurality of time-resolved cine images of the slice of the region of interest from an imaging device using an acquired k-space for each individual image using both phase and magnitude components of the k-space to obtain a plurality of time-resolved cine image frames with an acquisition window of as short as 20 ms or less for each time-resolved cine image frame of the plurality of time-resolved cine image frames, wherein the plurality of time-resolved cine image frames are each a phase-sensitive, signed-magnitude, time-resolved image obtained using the entire acquired k-space;

instruct application of a navigator pulse directly before acquiring the plurality of cine image frames; and

instruct tracking lung motion to compensate for lung-motion-induced changes in an anatomical location of the region of interest.

24. The magnetic resonance imaging device of claim 23 , wherein at least 75% of a vessel of interest is visible in at least one of the plurality of cine image frames.