ES97D/ES3H5 Biomedical Imaging and Medical Devices

Lecture 06 MRI Part 5 – Gradients

Module leader Prof Joanna Collingwood, School of Engineering

J.F.Collingwood@warwick.ac.uk
BEFORE VIEWING THIS LECTURE
Please make sure you have:

1. Watched the previous lectures so that you’re up to speed with the

module.

2. Please read Essentials of in vivo biomedical imaging Chapter 3 Section

3.6, e-book is available via Library
http://encore.lib.warwick.ac.uk/iii/encore/record/Rb2851815

3. There is an additional source (MRI at a Glance, Chapters 28-30) as a PDF

in the Download folder for this week to support the explanations of how
the gradients work.
L06 Specific Learning Objectives
Understand the principles of how gradients are applied to encode
NMR signal as a function of spatial position, specifically:

1. The role of the slice selection gradient

2. The role of the phase encoding gradient
3. The role of the frequency encoding gradient

.
MRI hardware – what do we
need to locate signals in 3D?

See: Dougherty, 2009 and Schroder and Faber, In vivo NMR Imaging, DOI 10.1007/978-1-61779-219-9
How do we encode NMR signal as a function of position?

𝜔0 = 𝛾𝐵0

𝜔 = 𝛾𝐵0 + 𝛾𝐺𝑧

𝜔0 = 𝛾𝐵0 𝜔 = 𝛾𝐵0 + 𝛾𝐺𝑧

See: Dougherty, 2009; Westbrook 2005; Callaghan 2009 (Video)

 SLICE SELECTION

➢ Slices are selected by applying a gradient

at the same time as the RF excitation and
rephasing pulse.
➢ The slice select gradient changes the
magnetic field strength and therefore the
precessional frequency of the magnetic
moments of spins that lie along it.
➢ An RF pulse at the specific frequency of
magnetic moments of spins in a
particular slice on the gradient causes
resonance of the slice.
➢ Slice thickness is altered by changing
either the slope of the slice select
gradient (steeper gradient for thin slices,
shallower gradient for thick slices) or by
changing the transmit bandwidth.

Please read accompanying section from MRI at a

Glance Chapter 28. (PDF with Chapters 28/29/30 is in
this week’s Download folder on Moodle.)
Phase encoding in a spin-echo pulse sequence
Please read
accompanying
section from MRI at
a Glance Chapter 29.
(PDF with Chapters
28/29/30 is in this
week’s Download
folder on Moodle.)
PHASE ENCODING
➢ Slices are phase encoded by applying a
gradient along one axis of the
two‐dimensional image.
➢ The phase‐encoding gradient changes the
magnetic field strength and therefore the
precessional frequency and phase of the
magnetic moments of spins that lie along it.
➢ Once this change of phase has occurred,
the phase‐encoding gradient is switched
off: the spins precess at the Larmor
frequency again, but their phase change
remains, so there is a phase shift along the
gradient direction.
➢ The matrix size of the image that is acquired
depends on how many times the phase-
encoding gradient is altered during the
sequence.
➢ The steepness of the gradient determines
the spatial resolution along the phase axis.
Please read
accompanying
section from MRI at
a Glance Chapter 30.
(PDF with Chapters
28/29/30 is in this FREQUENCY ENCODING
week’s Download
folder on Moodle).
➢ Slices are frequency encoded by applying a
gradient along one axis of the two‐dimensional
image (usually the longer axis).

➢ The frequency‐encoding gradient changes the

magnetic field strength and therefore the
precessional frequency and phase of the
magnetic moments of spins that lie along it.

➢ The change of frequency is measured and

enables the system to spatially encode signal
in the frequency‐encoding direction.

➢ The amplitude of the frequency‐encoding

gradient determines the size of the field of
view (FOV) in the frequency‐encoding axis. A
small FOV requires a steep frequency‐encoding
gradient.
 Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Here, Paul Callaghan demonstrates the concepts underpinning formation of images in MRI in “Magnetic Resonance Imaging”
where he shows how the application of a magnetic field gradient along one axis enables the signals from two tubes of water to be
distinguished.

We are used to thinking about a Fourier relationship between frequency and time, and here Paul Callaghan introduces the
important concept of a Fourier relationship between frequency and spatial position.

This will be fundamental to understanding how images are formed, and is explored at the start of our next lecture with an
“Introduction to k-space”.
WHAT NEXT?

1. Please view the supplementary videos if you have not already done so.

2. Please read Essentials of in vivo biomedical imaging Chapter 3 Section

3.3.3 (k-Space), e-book is available via Library
http://encore.lib.warwick.ac.uk/iii/encore/record/Rb2851815

3. In the next online lecture, we will look at k space.

END OF LECTURE