MAGNETIC RESONANCE

IMAGING

• Jack E. Peterson, Ph.D.

 Summary Slide

• I. HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
• II. MAGNETIC NUCLEI
• III. TISSUE MAGNETIZATION AND RELAXATION
• IV. RF PULSE SEQUENCES AND IMAGING METHODS
• V. SPATIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MR IMAGE
• VI. PROTOCOL FACTORS FOR CONTRAST CONTROL
• VII. IMAGE DETAIL AND NOISE
• VIII. BASIC MRI EQUIPMENT
 1.1 Historical Perspective

– 1.1.1 NMR Spectroscopy - 1946

• 1.1.1.1 Felix Bloch - Stanford
• 1.1.1.2 Edward M. Purcell - Harvard
• 1.1.1.3 Joint Nobel Prize - 1952

– 1.1.2 MRI Imaging

• 1.1.2.1 Paul Lauterbur - 1973 - Water Image
• 1.1.2.2 Raymond Damadian - 1974 - Patent Granted
• 1.1.2.3 Peter Mansfield - 1975 - Finger Image
 II. MAGNETIC NUCLEI

• 2.1 Magnetic Moments

• 2.2 Characteristics
•  2.3 Nuclides
• 2.4 Magnetic Fields
• 2.5 Magnetic Resonance
2.1 Magnetic Moments
 2.2 Characteristics
• 2.2.1 Sensitivity to a Magnetic Field
– 2.2.1.1 Needs odd number of protons/neutrons

• 2.2.2 Isotopic Abundance

– 2.2.2.1 Abundant in nature?

• 2.2.3 Tissue Concentration

– 2.2.3.1 Abundant in the body?
 2.3 Nuclides
• 2.3.1 Hydrogen-1
• 2.3.2 Phosphorus-31
• 2.3.3 Carbon-12
– 2.3.3.1 Carbon-13
• 2.3.4 Sodium-23
• 2.3.5 Potassium-39
• 2.3.6 Oxygen-16
– 2.3.6.1 Oxygen-17
• 2.3.7 Fluorine-19
 2.4 Magnetic Fields

– 2.4.1 Magnets

– 2.4.2 Field Characteristics

• 2.4.2.1 Size and Shape
• 2.4.2.2 Direction
• 2.4.2.3 Strength Units
– 2.4.2.3.1 The Tesla = 10,000 Gauss
– 2.4.2.3.2 The Gauss – Measure of Earth’s field
• 2.4.2.3.2.1 Atlanta = 0.6 Gauss
 2.5 Magnetic Resonance

• 2.5.1 Resonant (Larmor) Frequency

– 2.5.1.1 Field Strength
– 2.5.1.2 Nuclide - Gyromagnetic Ratio
(Magnetogyric Ratio)

• 2.5.2 Radio Frequency (RF) Absorption

• 2.5.3 Radio Frequency (RF) Emission

 III. TISSUE MAGNETIZATION
AND RELAXATION

• 3.1 Material Magnetization

– 3.1.1 Production

• 3.2 Magnetic Characteristics

– 3.2.1 Direction (Vector)
– 3.2.2 Strength
• 3.2.2.1 Nuclear Concentration
• 3.2.2.2 Field Strength
– 3.2.3 Stability
• 3.2.3.1 Permanent
• 3.2.3.2 Temporary
 3.3 Magnetic Directions

– 3.3.1 Longitudinal
• 3.3.1.1 Stable
• 3.3.1.2 Unstable

– 3.3.2 Transverse
• 3.3.2.1 Unstable
• 3.3.2.2 Produces RF Signal
 3.4 Magnetic Excitation

– 3.4.1 Radio Frequency Energy

– 3.4.2 90° Excitation
– 3.4.3 180° Rephasing
– 3.4.4 Excitation Method
• 3.4.4.1 RF Coils
• 3.4.4.2 RF Generator
 3.5 Magnetic Relaxation

– 3.5.1 Energy Exchange

– 3.5.2 Relaxation Rates

 3.6 Longitudinal Relaxation

• 3.6.1 Mechanism

• 3.6.2 Relaxation Time – T1

 3.7 Transverse Relaxation

– 3.7.1 Mechanism

– 3.7.2 Relaxation Time - T2

 3.8 Tissue Values

– 3.8.1 Field Strength

– 3.8.2 Temperature
– 3.8.3 Water Content
– 3.8.4 Protein Content
– 3.8.5 Paramagnetic Ions (Contrast Media)
 Some Neural Tissue
Characteristics

Proton
Tissue T1 T2
Density
Fat 100 290 60
Gray Matter 84 520 95
White
72 380 85
matter
CSF 100 2700 160
 Other Tissue Characteristics

Proton
Tissue T1 T2
Density
Liver 91 290 50

Muscle 100 630 40

Blood 90 820 180

Water 100 2700 2700

IV. RF PULSE SEQUENCES
AND IMAGING METHODS

• 4.1 RF Functions
• 4.2 Coils (RF Antennas)
• 4.3 RF Energy Generator (Transmitter)
• 4.4 RF Receiver
• 4.5 RF Shielding
• 4.6 Magnet Types
• 4.7 Field Strength Issues
 4.1 RF Functions

• 4.1.1 Excitation

• 4.1.2 Signal Detection

 4.2 Coils (RF Antennas)

• 4.2.1 Body Coils

• 4.2.2 Head Coils
• 4.2.3 Surface Coils
– 4.2.3.1 Homogeneous – send & receive
– 4.2.3.2 Inhomogeneous – receive only
• 4.2.4 Quadrature Coils
– 4.2.4.1 Detect both halves of signal
– 4.2.4.2 Think stereo – better location of source
4.3 RF Energy Generator
(Transmitter)
 4.4 RF Receiver

• 4.4.1 Need for Quadrature Reception

– 4.4.1.1 Localize the signal
– 4.4.1.2 Receive both halves of the signal
 4.5 RF Shielding

• 4.5.1 Keep RF out of the Bore!

• 4.5.2 Shield the Room

– 4.5.2.1 Phosphor-bronze screens
– 4.5.2.2 Difficult and expensive
– 4.5.2.3 Easy with mobile units

• 4.5.3 Shield the Bore

– 4.5.3.1 Pull-out shield
 4.6 Magnet Types
• 4.6.1 Permanent
– 4.6.1.1 Very heavy (~100 tons)!
– 4.6.1.2 Limited field strength (0.3 T)
– 4.6.1.3 Field is vertical
• 4.6.2 Resistive
– 4.6.2.1 Low field strength
– 4.6.2.2 Uses much electrical power
– 4.6.2.3 Needs cooling
• 4.6.3 Superconducting
– 4.6.3.1 Uses niobium-titanium conductors
– 4.6.3.2 Needs liquid helium and nitrogen
 4.7 Field Strength Issues
• 4.7.1 Image Quality
– 4.7.1.1 Contrast
– 4.7.1.2 Detail
– 4.7.1.3 Noise
– 4.7.1.4 Artifacts
• 4.7.2 Imaging Time
– 4.7.2.1 Number of Averages (NSA)
– 4.7.2.2 Number of Slices
• 4.7.3 Safety
 V. SPATIAL CHARACTERISTICS
OF THE MR IMAGE

• 5.1 The Imaging Space

• 5.2 Gradients

• 5.3 Imaging
 5.1 The Imaging Space

• 5.1.1 The Magnetic Field

• 5.1.2 RF Coils

• 5.1.3 Gradient Coils

 5.2 Gradients

• 5.2.1 Purpose

• 5.2.2 Gradient

• 5.2.3 Gradient Directions

– 5.2.3.1 Selection - Z
– 5.2.3.2 Preparation - Y
– 5.2.3.3 Detection/Measurement - X
 5.3 Imaging

• 5.3.1 Slice Selection

– 5.3.1.1 Thickness
– 5.3.1.2 Position
– 5.3.1.3 Orientation

• 5.3.2 Image Matrix (Pixel) Formation

– 5.3.2.1 Phase Encoding
– 5.3.2.2 Frequency Encoding
 VI. PROTOCOL FACTORS
FOR CONTRAST CONTROL

• 6.1 Image Gray Scale

• 6.2 Tissue Contrast Factors
• 6.3 Procedure Parameters
• 6.4 Spin Echo
• 6.5 Transverse Magnetization
• 6.6 Longitudinal Magnetization
 6.1 Image Gray Scale

• 6.1.1 RF Signal Intensity

• 6.1.2 Tissue Magnetization

 6.2 Tissue Contrast Factors

• 6.2.1 Nuclear (Proton) Concentration

• 6.2.2 Longitudinal Relaxation Time - T1
• 6.2.3 Transverse Relaxation Time - T2
• 6.2.4 Flow and Motion
• 6.2.5 Chemical Shift
 6.3 Procedure Parameters
• 6.3.1 Pulse Sequences
– 6.3.1.1 Spin Echo
– 6.3.1.2 Inversion Recovery
– 6.3.1.3 Gradient Echo
• 6.3.2 Pulse Intervals
– 6.3.2.1 Repetition Time (TR)
– 6.3.2.2 Echo Time (TE)
– 6.3.2.3 Inversion Time (TI)
 6.4 Spin Echo

• 6.3.1 Purpose

• 6.3.2 Method
 6.5 Transverse Magnetization

• 6.5.1 Reason
– 6.5.1.1 Obtain RF Signal
– 6.5.1.2 Observe T2 Characteristics

• 6.5.2 Production - 90 Pulse

• 6.5.3 Use of TE
 6.6 Longitudinal Magnetization

• 6.6.1 Observe T1 Characteristics

• 6.6.2 Production
– 6.6.2.1 90 Pulse - SE Sequence
– 6.6.2.2 180 Pulse - IR Sequence

• 6.6.3 Use of TR
 6.7 Spin Echo Image
“Weighting”

T1 T2 P.D.
TR Short Long Long
TE Short Long Short
Brightest
Shortest Longest Greatest
T1 T2 P.D.
Tissue
CSF Dark Bright Bright
Fat Bright Dark Bright
 6.8 Gradient Echo Image
“Weighting”

T1 LowT2* High T2* P.D.

TR
200 - 400 20 - 50 200 - 400 200 - 400
(ms)
TE
12 - 15 12 - 15 30 - 60 12 - 15
(ms)
Flip

45 - 90° 30 - 60° 5 - 20° 5 - 20°

Angle
VII. IMAGE DETAIL AND NOISE

• 7.1 Detail (Voxel Size)

• 7.2 Image Noise

• 7.3 Signal-to-Noise Ratio

• 7.4 Trade-Offs
 7.1 Detail (Voxel Size)

• 7.1.1 Slice Thickness

– 7.1.1.1 RF Bandwidth
– 7.1.1.2 Gradient Slope

• 7.1.2 Pixel Size

– 7.1.2.1 Matrix (64, 128, 179, 256, 512, 1024)
– 7.1.2.2 Field of View (FOV)
 7.2 Image Noise

• 7.2.1 RF Noise Sources

– 7.2.1.1 The Human Body
– 7.2.1.2 Effect of RF Coils
 7.3 Signal-to-Noise Ratio

• 7.3.1 Nuclear (Proton) Concentration

• 7.3.2 Magnetic Field Strength
– 7.3.2.1 Slice Thickness
– 7.3.2.2 Pixel Size
• 7.3.3 TR/T1
• 7.3.4 TE/T2
• 7.3.5 Averaging (NSA)
 7.4 Trade-Offs

• 7.4.1 Image Detail

• 7.4.2 Image Acquisition Time

 VIII. BASIC MRI
EQUIPMENT

• 8.1 Magnets
• 8.2 Radiofrequency (RF) Equipment
• 8.3 Operator Controls
• 8.4 Computers
 8.1 Magnets

• 8.1.1 Permanent

• 8.1.2 Resistive

• 8.1.3 Superconducting

• 8.1.4 Conclusions
 8.2 Radiofrequency (RF) Equipment

• 8.2.1 Receiver
– 8.2.1.1 Antennas (Coils)

• 8.2.2 Transmitter
– 8.2.2.1 Antennas (Coils)
– 8.2.2.1.1 Power Output
– 8.2.2.1.2 Frequency Requirements
 8.3 Operator Controls

• 8.3.1 Console

• 8.3.2 Terminal
 8.4 Computers
• 8.3.1 Types
– 8.3.1.1 Mainframes – DEC, IBM
– 8.3.1.2 Work Stations – DEC, Sun
• 8.3.2 Storage
– 8.3.2.1 Memory
– 8.3.2.2 Disk/Tape Storage
– 8.3.2.3 Laser Disk Storage
• 8.3.3 Array Processor
684 x 362 Image