Novel method for evaluating spatial resolution of magnetic resonance images

Recently, several methods for evaluating the spatial resolution of magnetic resonance imaging have been reported. However, these methods are not simple and can only be used for specific devices. In this study, we develop a new method (the ladder method) and evaluate its measurement accuracy by adapting the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) method to evaluate the spatial resolution. First, the suitable condition for the ladder method was determined by numerical experiments. The ladder method uses a phantom with a periodic pattern which is based on IEC method. Subsequently, the ladder method is evaluated in terms of spatial resolution by dividing the standard deviation (SD) by the average signal in the region of interest (ROI) on the ladder phantom image. To evaluate the precision of the ladder method, it is compared with the modulation transfer function (MTF) calculated from an edge image. The numerical experiment result shows that the evaluation of the spatial resolution using the ladder method is viable, in which a single regression analysis’s coefficient of correlation between ladder and MTF of 0.90 or higher is obtained for all evaluations. The ladder method can be assessed using only the signal mean value and SD in the ROI on the target image and exhibit a strong correlation with the MTF. Therefore, the ladder method is a promising method as a substitute for the MTF.