Tissue temperature based magnetic resonance image segmentation

Temperature dependence of T₁ has been studied as the potential means of non-invasive tissue temperature monitoring using MRI. This has several benefits in hyperthermia applications. Another active area of research in MRI deals with the tissue segmentation. In this study intensity variation in MRI due to temperature change is treated as a signature of a certain tissue class, and used for tissue segmentation. A number of phantom and in-vitro tissue experiments revealed the MRI sequence with the highest temperature sensitivity. Minimum line distance measure was used for finding the class of an unknown tissue from its temperature response curve. Preliminary segmentation results corresponding to three in-vitro tissues are presented