Quantitative imaging software development
Researchers at INM-4 are working on the development of software packages for qMRI, an important step toward bringing qMRI into standard practice.
In terms of water content maps, following data acquisition, the MRI data – usually a set of measurement – need to be treated as a single entity and processed together to return the estimated water content map. However, in order for this process to be practical in a clinical setting, the workflow needs to be automated.
A software package – Matlab Quantitative Imaging Toolbox or MQit – is currently being developed under Matlab to perform this task. A scripted programming language such as Matlab is very powerful to develop rapidly processing algorithms and to perform complex data analysis. Additionally, a Java graphical user interface – called JQit – has been developed to provide an ergonomic and simple interface for non-expert users. This interface assures the communication with MQit and allows jobs to be prepared on datasets acquired with specific quantitative imaging protocols. The TAPIR, the M0-w. and T1-w. 2D-GRE and the 3D-GRE protocol, all developed at INM-4, are implemented in this process.
