Abstract
In recent years, ultra-low field (ULF)-MRI is being given more and more attention, due to the possibility of integrating ULF-MRI and Magnetoencephalography (MEG) in the same device. Despite the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) reduction, there are several advantages to operating at ULF, including increased tissue contrast, reduced cost and weight of the scanners, the potential to image patients that are not compatible with clinical scanners, and the opportunity to integrate different imaging modalities. The majority of ULF-MRI systems are based, until now, on magnetic field pulsed techniques for increasing SNR, using SQUID based detectors with Larmor frequencies in the kHz range. Although promising results were recently obtained with such systems, it is an open question whether similar SNR and reduced acquisition time can be achieved with simpler devices. In this work a room-temperature, MEG-compatible very-low field (VLF)-MRI device working in the range of several hundred kHz without sample pre-polarization is presented. This preserves many advantages of ULF-MRI, but for equivalent imaging conditions and SNR we achieve reduced imaging time based on preliminary results using phantoms and ex-vivo rabbits heads.
Highlights
Clinical Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanners are usually divided into high field (> 0.5 Tesla) and low field ones
We present a Very-Low Field (VLF)-MRI proof-of-concept demonstration with a spherical Region of Interest (ROI) of approximately 6 cm
We report the performance of a VLF-MRI scanner using only room-temperature Tx and Rx resonant coils
Summary
Clinical Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanners are usually divided into high field (> 0.5 Tesla) and low field ones. The latter usually rely on permanent magnets and operate between 100 mT and 500 mT. ITA S.r.l was one of the members of the Consortium of the EU-funded FP7 project MEGMRI, grant agreement no. Within the project ITA S.r.l. was involved in: Design and fabrication of main static field and gradient coils, control electronics for the coils, and development of specific sequences for 3DMRI. ITA S.r.l. was the vendor that provided the spectrometer used to perform MRI. ITA S. r.l provided support in the form of salaries for authors PS and AS. The specific roles of these authors are articulated in the ‘author contributions’ section
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