Modeling Phase Errors for Robust and Efficient Multidimensional MR Fingerprinting for Simultaneous Relaxation and Diffusion Mapping

Motivation: Diffusion MRI can be corrupted by phase errors due to physiological motion, bulk motion, eddy currents, and other system imperfections, which makes its efficient embedding into MR Fingerprinting challenging. Goal(s): To develop a new approach to correct artifacts in multidimensional MR Fingerprinting (mdMRF) for simultaneous relaxation and diffusion quantification, that obviates cardiac gating, motion compensation, navigators, or data removal. Approach: Modeling potential phase errors using phase offset and phase dispersion during dictionary generation, then quantifying and correcting measured phase errors in dictionary matching. Results: The proposed approach significantly mitigates artifacts in mdMRF diffusion parameter mapping. Impact: Phase error-induced artifacts due to physiological motion, bulk motion, and eddy currents is a key limitation in diffusion MRI. We develop an approach to improve robustness and efficiency of artifact correction in multidimensional MR Fingerprinting for relaxation and diffusion mapping.