Software Framework for Realistic MRI Simulations Using the Polyhedral Fourier Transform

This work presents a freely available operating system-independent Matlab software tool for simulation of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) acquisition and image reconstruction using polyhedral phantoms. The tool is based on an efficient implementation of the closed form solution of the polyhedral Fourier transform (FT). The software tool, named “PolyFT”, can be applied to polyhedral surface and tetrahedral volume meshes. The tool enables the calculation of the Fourier domain representation of physiologically relevant objects with spatially varying intensities, permitting accurate simulation of slice selection and parallel imaging techniques that require coil sensitivity profiles. Several examples of applications are given. Though more computationally intense than the FT, the polyhedral FT allows relevant simulation of both MRI sampling and reconstruction processes. The freely-available software tool should be useful in the same situations in which the standard Shepp-Logan phantom is used, and additionally when analytical Fourier representations of objects with non-uniform intensities are needed.