Prepolarized fast spin-echo pulse sequence for low-field MRI

Clinical MRI systems use magnetic fields of at least 0.5T to take advantage of the increase in signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR) with B0. Low‐field MRI apparatus is less expensive and offers the potential benefit of improved T1 contrast between tissues. The poor inherent SNR at low field can be offset by...

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Veröffentlicht in:Magnetic resonance in medicine 2007-06, Vol.57 (6), p.1180-1184
Hauptverfasser: Kegler, C., Seton, H.C., Hutchison, J.M.S.
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Sprache:eng
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Zusammenfassung:Clinical MRI systems use magnetic fields of at least 0.5T to take advantage of the increase in signal‐to‐noise ratio (SNR) with B0. Low‐field MRI apparatus is less expensive and offers the potential benefit of improved T1 contrast between tissues. The poor inherent SNR at low field can be offset by incorporating prepolarizing field pulses with the MRI pulse sequence. The prepolarizing field does not need to be as homogeneous as the detection field, so it can be generated by a relatively inexpensive electromagnet. Prepolarizing hardware for a 0.01T MRI system was developed together with a prepolarized MRI pulse sequence that incorporates fast imaging techniques to reduce acquisition times by a factor of 5 relative to standard methods. Comparison images of test objects show that most of the enhanced SNR is retained with the fast method. Low‐field images of a human wrist acquired using the fast prepolarized method are also shown. Magn Reson Med 57:1180–1184, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
ISSN:0740-3194
1522-2594
DOI:10.1002/mrm.21238