Improving Cardiac motion correction in hybrid PET/MRI using MRI derived Cardiac Motion Vectors

Motivation: Motion correction of cardiovascular images will reduce acquisition time and low radiation dose in cardiac MRI and PET for better patient-care. Goal(s): The aim is to improve the quality of cardiac MRI and PET images by applying cardiac motion vectors to correct motion, thereby enhancing the signal-to-noise ratio and image accuracy. Approach: Using a hybrid PET/MRI system in a myocardial infarction animal model, cardiac motion vectors are extracted from MRI and applied to both MRI and PET images. Results: Cardiac motion vector corrected MRI and PET images demonstrated similar ventricular structures but with improved SNR compared to images without correction across different cardiac-phases. Impact: The findings of this study will enhance the efficacy of cardiac motion correction without the need for additional sequences or hardware, thereby improving patient care quality and reducing MRI scan time.