The Voxel Sensitivity Function in Fourier Transform Imaging: Applications to Magnetic Resonance Angiography

Abstract

In this paper the problem of small structure visualization in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is considered. The relationship between the structure and the image intensities is defined in terms of the voxel sensitivity function (VSF). Using the VSF, the spatial dependence of the voxel signal for small spheres and cylinders is computed. Although the spatial fluctuation is smaller in the MRI VSF than that which would be obtained from a uniformly sensitive cubical voxel, the deviation still results in significant signal loss near the edges and corners of the voxels. Finally, the VSF formalism is used to demonstrate the improvement in signal uniformity that can be obtained by using zero-filled (band-limited or sinc) interpolation.