GENERATING PSEUDO-CT IMAGE VOLUMES FROM ULTRA-SHORT ECHO TIME MR

A method for generating a pseudo-computed tomography (CT) image volume includes acquiring a first magnetic resonance (MR) image volume (UTE1) using an ultra-short echo time and acquiring a second MR image volume (UTE2) using a conventional echo time that is longer than the ultra-short echo time. The acquired UTE1 and UTE2 image volumes are normalized. A mask for an anatomical structure featured in the normalized UTE1 and UTE2 image volumes is created and bone regions are segmented from the normalized UTE1 and UTE2 image volumes using the created mask and one or more trained classifiers. A pseudo-CT image is constructed from the normalized UTE1 and UTE2 image volumes, the created mask, and the segmented bone regions.