Julia Busch1,2, Daniel Giese1,3,
Lukas Wissmann1, Sebastian Kozerke1,3
1Institute for Biomedical
Engineering, University & ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland; 2Ruprecht-Karls
University Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany; 3Division of Imaging
Sciences & Biomedical Engineering, King's College London, London, United
Kingdom
The accuracy of velocity data derived from phase-contrast measurements is often compromised by partial volume effects and system imperfections. Although correction algorithms exist which aim to correct for noise and eddy-current related phase offsets residual phase errors remain. The present work introduces divergence-free image reconstruction for 3D phase-contrast vector field mapping based on a synergistic combination of normalized convolution and divergence-free radial basis functions. Using computer simulations and in-vivo data it is demonstrated that vector field divergence arising from measurement imperfections can be significantly reduced resulting in improved vector field representations.