High resolution T1 estimation from multiple low resolution magnetic resonance images

Quantitative T₁ mapping is a magnetic resonance imaging technique in which the spin-lattice relaxation time of tissues is estimated. Even though T₁ mapping has a broad range of potential applications, it is not routinely used in clinical practice. The long acquisition time of the required set of high resolution T₁-weighted images, needed to obtain a precise high resolution T₁ map, is clinically infeasible. To improve the trade-off between the acquisition time, SNR and spatial resolution, we propose to combine super-resolution reconstruction with T₁ parameter estimation into one integrated method that estimates a high resolution T₁ map directly from a set of low resolution T₁-weighted images.