Accurate intensity correction for endorectal surface coil MR imaging of the prostate

An accurate technique is developed to correct the intensity variation in the magnetic resonance images acquired with an endorectal surface coil for prostate imaging. The technique relies on reconstructing the in vivo size, shape, and location of the coil during imaging, wherefrom a pixel-by-pixel correction is applied to the coil´s sensitivity profile in accordance with the Biot-Savart law. The method is evaluated by a test-object containing multiple layers of beads embedded in gelatine. Qualitatively, the improvement in visualizing regions of interest after corrections is obvious. Quantitatively, the local SNR shows an improvement by a factor of 1.5-2. Several human studies are performed. The technique shows remarkable improvement in visualizing the prostate region