MO‐D‐303A‐02: KTool: A Web‐Based Educational Application for Exploration of K‐Space Properties

Purpose: The goal of this project was to develop a web‐based tool (named “KTool”) for visual demonstration of how changes in k‐space data are manifest in changes of MR image appearance. The tool should be usable on a variety of computer platforms for wide‐ranging access by Radiology residency programs. The purpose of this endeavor is to help cultivate an intuitive understanding of what k‐space is, to improve understanding of the relationship between raw data and images produced during the MRI image formation process. Method and Materials: KTool was programmed as an Applet using Java on a Dell Precision workstation with a Linux‐platform, and deployed on the Medical College of Georgia Department of Radiology web‐server. The applet was embedded in a webpage for viewing, and was successfully accessed using computers with three different platforms/environments (Windows XP, Mac OS X, and Redhat Linux). Results: KTool allows the user to examine three different broad concepts of k‐space via different tabbed view panels. First, the user can manipulate k‐space directly via zero‐filling, to demonstrate how image appearance depends on k‐space. Second, the user can visualize—more intuitively and less mathematically—how properties of images and k‐space are reciprocal, related through the symmetry of the forward and inverse Fourier transform. Third, the user can add image artifacts to an image and visualize their appearance in k‐space, to associate malfunctions in MRI equipment during image formation to corruptions in k‐space and to image artifacts. Conclusion: We have introduced a new tool for a more intuitive understanding of k‐space, relying on visualization and intuition instead of mathematics. This tool may be useful for Radiology residency education (e.g., we use it at our institution), or for serving as a reference to the Medical community at large.