MR fingerprinting: concepts, implementation and applications

Magnetic resonance fingerprinting (MRF) is a powerful quantitative imaging technique that allows simultaneous measurement of multiple tissue properties in a single and time-efficient scan. Its innovation comes from a fundamentally different way of designing MR acquisition, reconstruction, and quantification, which attracts widespread active research for technical development and clinical translation. A growing number of studies have demonstrated robust implementation, fast scan time and high reproducibility of MRF scans in a clinical setting. Clinical applications of MRF in different parts of the body have also started to show promising results for disease diagnosis and monitoring. This chapter will review the basic concept, implementation, and current neural imaging applications of the MRF technology.