Robust Spatial Phase Unwrapping for On-Line MR-Temperature Monitoring

Magnetic resonance (MR) systems can be used to monitor temperature changes in and around a treated region during an hyperthermic ablation procedure. Dynamic temperature monitoring allows on-line prediction of cellular destruction during the intervention. MRI systems associate each volume unit with a complex number. Phase component is 2pi periodic (it is a function of the wrapped phase) and accounts for noise sources present in MR imaging. Robust spatial phase unwrapping is a necessary prerequisite for several applications. This study proposes a spatial phase unwrapping algorithm for MR images, allowing a real time implementation for on-line temperature monitoring.