Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is a tool that constructs cross-sectional pictures of internal organs and structures using radio waves and magnets. MRI imaging provides a unique view into the interior of the human body and has become an essential tool of modern medical imaging and disease diagnosis. In many cases, MRI provides important diagnostic information that cannot be obtained with other imaging techniques. Nevertheless, compared to other imaging modalities, such as ultrasound or computed tomography, MRI has always been particularly sensitive to subject motion. This is primarily due to the prolonged time required to form an image. The effects of motion have been well known since the early days of MRI and include blurring, ringing or ghosting in the images as illustrated in Figure 1.

The objective of this research is to improve the process of MRI operation which can be decomposed into in-progress and after-scan phases. During the in-progress phase, the goal is to detect excessive motions that could warrant decisions such as an early termination. In the after-scan phase, the task is to enhance the quality of acquired images by reducing the artifacts caused by both involuntary motion (e.g., breathing, heart beat, etc.) and subtle moves. Thus, The specific aims of this research are to develop computer software that will 1) assess the amount of subject motion during the MRI scan , and 2) reduce image artifacts induced by in- scanner motions . The ultimate products of this research will be real-time interactive tools that can be deployed to clinics to improve the efficiency of MRI operations and the image quality. Our prelimnary work is presented in the Software section.