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NIH/NIA/GRC
MRI Hardware:An Overview for Clinicians
Richard G. Spencer, M.D., Ph.D.
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Unit National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of
HealthBaltimore, Maryland USA
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NIH/NIA/GRC
ii) to give good answers
i) to ask good questions
Why go to a talk?
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NIH/NIA/GRC
1. Magnet
2. Gradients
3. Transmitter
4. Receiver
5. Probe• Considerations• Reasonable questions• A few details• A few specifications
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NIH/NIA/GRC
Magnet
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NIH/NIA/GRC
Magnet Considerations• High field for high signal-to-noise ratio
• Weight
• Diameter and length (patient experience; field homogeneity)
• Homogeneity (spatial); Field stability (temporal)
• Configuration (access; patient experience)
• Cryogenic efficiency (operating costs)
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NIH/NIA/GRC
What’s the field homogeneity?
Field strength?Bore size?
What type of magnet is it?Is it shielded?
How stable is the field?
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NIH/NIA/GRC
Resistive Magnet Type
• Field stability need a very stable 10’s of kW power supply
• Power requirements B2 cooling requirements 0.2 T or less
B 0I
2rWire
B 0In
Solenoid
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NIH/NIA/GRC
Permanent Magnet Type
• Excellent field stability
• Configuration: open systems are available
• No power consumption
however...
• Weight--can be enormous: iron 0.2 T whole body weighs about 25 tons
• 0.2 T neodymium alloy ~ 5 tons
• Homogeneity--can be a problem
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NIH/NIA/GRC
Open Permanent Magnet System
Siemens Viva--0.2 T
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NIH/NIA/GRC
Superconducting Magnet Type
• Required for high field systems
• Homogeneous field
• Stable field
however...
• Expensive
• Quench phenomenon
Siemens/Bruker Magnetom Allegra-3T, head only
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NIH/NIA/GRC
Field Strength
• Polarization of atomic nuclei
Larger field More spin alignment
More signal from each pixel or voxel
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NIH/NIA/GRC
Signal-to-noiseincreased at high field
SpeedResolution
Trading Rules
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NIH/NIA/GRC
More signal from each pixel means:Each pixel can be smaller
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NIH/NIA/GRC
More signal per unit time means:Images can be acquired faster
RN Berk, UCSD S Smith, Oxford
Cardiac MRI Functional MRI
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NIH/NIA/GRC
Field Strength in Spectroscopy
• Greater spectral resolution
31P NMR Spectrum of Skeletal Muscle at 1.9 T 31P NMR Spectrum of Rat Heart at 9.4 T
PCr
-ATP
PCr-ATP
Baseline unresolved Baseline resolved
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NIH/NIA/GRC
Field Strength Considerations
However, at higher field:
• increased chemical shift artifacts, e.g. fat/water
• increased susceptibility artifacts
• increased siting cost
• increased initial cost
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NIH/NIA/GRC
Field Strength
Typical clinical systems: 0.2 T to 1.5 T to 3 T
Whole-body: 3 T, 4 T, … , 8 T, 9.4 T available
Ohio State, Bruker 8T Whole-body System Gradient-echo Images
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NIH/NIA/GRC
Field Strength
High field especially useful for fMRI and
spectroscopy--less obviously so for standard imaging
• Typical animal systems:
4.7 T, 7 T,…, 9.4 T, 11 T horizontal
9.4 T, 11 T vertical
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NIH/NIA/GRC
Bore Size
• Bigger is better--e.g. “head only” fits only heads!600 mm magnet warm bore
570 mm magnet at shoulder incl. shim
360 mm gradient coil inner diameter
265 mm RF-headcoil inner diameter
Siemens/Bruker Magnetom Allegra-3T, head only
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NIH/NIA/GRC
Bore Size• Human
i) Whole Body (typical: 100 cm)
ii) Head only (typical: 80 cm)
•Animal
15 cm, 20 cm, 30 cm, 40 cm, ...
However:
• Larger bore larger fringe field
• Larger gradient sets can be slower
• Cost
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NIH/NIA/GRC
Magnetic Shielding: Containment of the Fringe Field
• Fringe field: portion of the magnetic field that extends beyond the magnet bore
• 5 G taken as maximum safe public exposure
• Effect on e.g. pacemakers, steel tools, and magnetic cards
• Effect from e.g. moving cars and elevators
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NIH/NIA/GRC
Magnetic Shielding Considerations
• Weight
• Footprint
• Expense including space
Note: fringe field is 3D
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NIH/NIA/GRC
Magnetic Shielding Options• Unshielded:
• Lightest, cheapest
However: largest field footprint, most expensive space
• Passive shielding: ferromagnetic material placed outside magnet • Small field footprint: decrease by factor of 2 in all directions
However: heaviest--10’s of tons of iron
• Active shielding: electromagnetic counter-windings outside the main magnet coil• Similar field footprint as for passive shielding
• Mild increase in weight vs unshielded
However: highest magnet expense
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NIH/NIA/GRC
Sample Magnet Specifications
• Field stability: better than 0.1 ppm/hour driftNote: fat-water separation = 3.5 ppm
• Field homogeneity*: better than 0.3 ppm over 22 cm and 5 ppm over 50 cmdiameter spherical volume (DSV)
*without room-temperature shims
1 ppm = 0.00001%
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NIH/NIA/GRC
Gradients
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NIH/NIA/GRC
Magnetic Field Gradients:required along all three axes
I (current)direction indicated by
Distance
Field Strength I
CoilsMagnetic
Field—varies with position
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NIH/NIA/GRC
Operation of Gradients
With gradient: Bz,Local = B0 + z Gz
z
No gradient:Bz,Local = B0
Spatial variation of the B field permits spatial mapping of spins:frequency spatial position
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NIH/NIA/GRC
Gradient Considerations
• Want high in-plane resolution
• Want narrow slice capability in 2D imaging
• Want images which aren’t distorted
• Want to be able to image quickly
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NIH/NIA/GRC
What’s thegradient strength?
What’s thegradient linearity?
Are the gradients actively shielded?
What’s the rise time of the gradients?
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NIH/NIA/GRC
Two Different "Bandwidths" in MRI
• Excitation Bandwidth of a radiofrequency pulse
The pulse excites spins in this range of frequencies
• Receiver Bandwidth
The receiver can detect signals in this range of frequencies
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NIH/NIA/GRC
rfrf
GGss
GGPEPE
GGreadread
9090 180180
ADCADC
echo signalecho signal
Sampling during MRI Sampling during MRI signal acquisitionsignal acquisition
Sampling time, tSampling time, t
Excitation BW
Detection BW
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NIH/NIA/GRC
Excitation Bandwidth and Gradient Strength
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NIH/NIA/GRC
Excitation Bandwidth
t (milliseconds)
Frequency band excitedExcitation pulse
(kilohertz)
t (milliseconds) (kilohertz)
Long pulse:Narrow
band
Short pulse:Broadband
rf amplitude
rf amplitude Fourier
Fourier
BW
BW
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NIH/NIA/GRC
Pulse Bandwidtha.k.a. Excitation Bandwidth
Longer duration pulses • narrower excitation bandwidthhowever…• longer echo time—loss of signal from short T2 species• greater sample heating• relaxation effects during pulses
Would like to be able to use short pulses and still have narrow slice
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NIH/NIA/GRC
Spatial dimension
Fre
quen
cy
0.5 G/cm
2 G/cm = 20 mT/meter
2000 HzPulse
Bandwidth
1 cmSlice Thickness
2.5 mmSlice Thickness
G
Slice gradient strength + Pulse bandwidth Slice thickness
Gsz = BWexcitation(Hz)
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NIH/NIA/GRC
Slice Thickness 1
sliceG
Effect of Slice Gradient Strength on Slice Thickness
sliceG Slice Thickness
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NIH/NIA/GRC
Receiver Bandwidth and Gradient Strength
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NIH/NIA/GRC
Receiver BW=4,300 Hz Receiver BW=4,300 Hz
FOV = 2 cm FOV = 5 mm
Gr = 0.5 Gauss/cm
Gr = 2 Gauss/cm
MRI maps a frequency range to a spatial range
Gr FOV = BWreceiver(Hz)
G
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NIH/NIA/GRC
Resolution 1
Pixel Size
1
FOV rG
Effect of Read Gradient Strength onIn-plane Resolution
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NIH/NIA/GRC
Gradient Eddy CurrentsFaraday’s Law
Voltage
d
dt
B d
S
Binduced
Bdesired
Increased currents with more rapid switching
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NIH/NIA/GRC
Binduced causes B-field distortions
Cure #1: Pre-emphasis
Gradient amplifier driving waveform
Resulting gradient waveform
Resulting gradient waveform
Gradient amplifier driving waveform
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NIH/NIA/GRC
Magnet bore
Gradient Coils
Gradient Shield Coils
Cure #2: Shielded Gradients
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NIH/NIA/GRC
Gradient LinearityEffect on Image Accuracy
Bz, Local = B0 + z Gz
linear
Bz, Local = B0 + Gz(z)nonlinear
Linear gradient:nondistorted image
Nonlinear gradient:geometric distortion
z
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NIH/NIA/GRC
Sample Gradient Specifications
• Gradient strength: 2.5 G/cm (clinical) 4 G/cm, 8 G/cm10-100 G/cm (animal)
• Gradient switching time (rise and fall time)depends upon inductance and driving voltage:
0.2 ms to rise to 2 G/cm
• Gradient linearity:5% over 22 cm diameter spherical volume
Increased gradient strength higher resolution, narrower slices however: also increased heating, increased rise time (slower)
Faster switching better performance in rapid imaging sequences
Better linearity less image distortion
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NIH/NIA/GRC
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NIH/NIA/GRC
Transmitter Considerations
• Need to uniformly excite large bandwidth
• Require accurate shaped pulses (time, amplitude)
• Desire easy-to-control power output
• Frequency stability
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NIH/NIA/GRC
What’s the transmitter power?
What’s the linearity of the amplifier?
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NIH/NIA/GRC
Input 1 volt Gain set to twoOutput 2 volts
Input 2 voltsLinear: Output 4 volts
Nonlinear: Output = 3.5 volts
Gain set to two
Transmitter
Transmitter
Low power rf
Low power rf
Transmitter Linearity
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NIH/NIA/GRC
Transmitter linearity is important for accurate shaped pulses
Transmitter
...and for calibrating pulses
Low power input to transmitter amplifier High power output from
transmitter amplifier
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NIH/NIA/GRC
What is a decibel?The dB scale expresses amplification or attenuation
as the logarithm of a ratio:
dB = 20 log10(A2/A1)
A2/A1 dB
2 6 10 20 100 40
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NIH/NIA/GRC
Sample Transmitter Specifications
• Maximum output: 15 kW
• Linear to within 1 dB over a range of 40 dB
• Output stability of 0.1 dB over 10 ms pulse
• Output stability of 0.1 dB pulse-to-pulse
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NIH/NIA/GRC
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NIH/NIA/GRC
Receiver Considerations
Goal: Receive the microvolt NMR signal and convert it to a detectable echo/FID
• Without corruption by noise
• With faithful amplitude reproduction
• With faithful frequency reproduction
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NIH/NIA/GRC
What’s the receiver bandwidth?
What’s the digitizer resolution?
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NIH/NIA/GRC
Receiver Bandwidth The largest detectable frequency
Nyquist: have to sample at 80 kHz
to accurately record frequencies
Suppose Gr = 1 G/cmFOV = 10 cm
Signal frequency range = 40 kHz
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NIH/NIA/GRC
Receiver Digitization12 bits: maximum amplitude ratio observable
= 212 / 1= 4096
16 bits: maximum amplitude ratio observable = 216 / 1= 65,536
High digitization in spectroscopy:• water suppression• low-concentration metabolites
High digitization in imaging:• improved use of data from the periphery of k-space
(low signal, but high-resolution information)
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NIH/NIA/GRC
Sample Receiver Specifications
• Digitizer: 14 bit or greater
• Receiver Bandwidth: 500 kHz ( 250 kHz) or greater
• Preamp gain: 30 dB or greater
• Preamp noise: 0.7 dB or less
• System noise: 1.4 dB or less
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NIH/NIA/GRC
Probe
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NIH/NIA/GRC
Probe* Considerationsi) Transmit coils ii) Receive coils
*probe = rf coil
• High SNR: high sensitivity, low noise• Good homogeneity for transmission and reception• Efficient power transmission to the sample
Basic probe circuit
CM: matching capacitorCT: tuning capacitorR: intrinsic resistanceL: the coil
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NIH/NIA/GRC
Probe Construction
The “coil” component
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NIH/NIA/GRC
What’s the coil geometry?
What’s the Q?
How’s the rf inhomogeneity?
How long’s the 90degree pulse?
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NIH/NIA/GRC
QQ is for Quality (“efficiency”) of a coil
Q defines how much of the transmitted energy is delivered to the sample at the proper frequency
Q also defines the sensitivity of the coil during reception
ZHigher Q
Lower Q
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NIH/NIA/GRC
Typical Surface Coil
Bruker Biospec surface coil
Siemens loop flex surface coil
One or more loops of wire form a surface coil
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NIH/NIA/GRC
Surface Coil
Advantages:• High B1 field: the coil is close to the sample• Low noise: sees only desired imaging region• Can be arranged into a phased array for greater spatial coverage
Disadvantages:• Inhomogeneous
transmission• Inhomogeneous reception
D
D Depth into patient ~ D
Str
engt
h o
f B
1 fie
ld
Shaded images
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NIH/NIA/GRC
Solenoidal CoilMultiple loops form a solenoidal coil
Advantages:• Homogeneous field• High SNR
Disadvantages• Can’t orient with axis along the B0 field--the spins won’t flip
B1
B0
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NIH/NIA/GRC
Birdcage CoilMultiple parallel wires form a birdcage resonator
Advantages:• Much more homogeneous field• Intrinsically high SNR• Can run in quadrature mode for √ 2 SNR• Can use as transmit-only coil w/surface coil
Disadvantages:• Complicated design and construction
B1
Siemens Pathway MRI™ 1.5T Head Coil Head coil; body coil
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NIH/NIA/GRC
Siemens Body Array
Phased array coils
•Maintain SNR advantages of surface coils•Large sensitive region
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NIH/NIA/GRC
1. Magnet
2. Gradients
3. Transmitter
4. Receiver
5. Probe
Basic understanding needed to specify, purchase, andoperate an MRI system
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NIH/NIA/GRC
Magnetic Resonance ImagingHaacke, Brown, Thompson, VenkatesanWiley, 1999
In vivo NMR Spectroscopyde GraafWiley 1998
Electromagnetic Analysis and Design in MRIJinCRC 1999
Biomedical MR TechnologyChen and HoultAdam Hilger, 1989
Beach time!
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NIH/NIA/GRC