Super-resolution imaging on an MRI-linac to improve real-time MRI used in MRI guided radiation therapy.

Real-time MRI is limited in its spatiotemporal resolution due to imaging time being proportional to the spatial resolution. Super-resolution imaging was integrated into an MRI-linac to improve the spatiotemporal resolution of images used in real-time adaptive MRI guided radiation therapy. Real-time up-sampling techniques included conventional bicubic interpolation and deep learning-based super-resolution. Up-sampling increased the spatial resolution as characterised by healthy volunteer brain and thorax MRIs with negligible impact on the temporal resolution as measured in a motion phantom tracking experiment.