C. A.

Bouman: Digital Image Processing - January 29, 2013

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)

Can be very high resolution No radiation exposure Very exible and programable Tends to be expensive, noisy, slow

C. A. Bouman: Digital Image Processing - January 29, 2013

MRI Attributes
Based on magnetic resonance effect in atomic species Does not require any ionizing radiation Numerous modalities Conventional anatomical scans Functional MRI (fMRI) MRI Tagging Image formation RF excitation of magnetic resonance modes Magnetic eld gradients modulate resonance frequency Reconstruction computed with inverse Fourier transform Fully programmable Requires an enormous (and very expensive) superconducting magnet

C. A. Bouman: Digital Image Processing - January 29, 2013

Magnetic Resonance
Magnetic Field

Procession

Atom

Atom will precess at the Lamor frequency o = LM Quantities of importance M - magnitude of ambient magnetic eld o - frequency of procession (radians per second) L - Lamor constant. Depends on choice of atom

C. A. Bouman: Digital Image Processing - January 29, 2013

The MRI Magnet

Liquid Helium

Z axis X axis

Megnetic Field

Superconducting Magnet

Large super-conducting magnet Uniform eld within bore Very large static magnetic eld of Mo

C. A. Bouman: Digital Image Processing - January 29, 2013

Magnetic Field Gradients

Magnetic eld magnitude at the location (x, y, z ) has the form M (x, y, z ) = Mo + xGx + yGy + zGz Gx, Gy , and Gz control magnetic eld gradients Gradients can be changed with time Gradients are small compared to Mo For time varying gradients M (x, y, z, t) = Mo + xGx(t) + yGy (t) + zGz (t)

C. A. Bouman: Digital Image Processing - January 29, 2013

MRI Slice Select

Selected Slice

Magnetic Field Mo

1 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1
Zc 0

RF Pulse RF Antenna

Slope Gz Z

Design RF pulse to excite protons in single slice Turn off x and y gradients, i.e. Gx = Gy = 0. Set z gradient to x positive value, Gz > 0. Use the fact that resonance frequency is given by = L (Mo + zGz ) .

C. A. Bouman: Digital Image Processing - January 29, 2013

Slice Select Pulse Design

Design parameters Slice center = zc. Slice thickness = z . Slice centered at zc pulse center frequency zcLGz LMo zcLGz + = fo + . fc = 2 2 2 Slice thickness z pulse bandwidth f = zLGz . 2

Using these parameters, the pulse is given by s(t) = ej 2fctsinc (tf ) and its CTFT is given by S (f ) = rect (f f c ) f

C. A. Bouman: Digital Image Processing - January 29, 2013

How Do We Imaging Selected Slice?

Y axis Selected Slice 0 RF Antenna

X axis

Precessing atoms radiate electromagnetic energy at RF frequencies Strategy Vary magnetic gradients along x and y axies Measure received RF signal Reconstruct image from RF measurements

C. A. Bouman: Digital Image Processing - January 29, 2013

Signal from a Single Voxel

RF Antenna

Voxel of Selected Slice

RF signal from a single voxel has the form r(x, y, t) = f (x, y )ej(t) f (x, y ) voxel dependent weighting Depends on properties of material in voxel Quantity of interest Typically weighted by T1, T2, or T2* (t) phase of received signal Can be modulated using Gx and Gy magnetic eld gradients We assume that (0) = 0

C. A. Bouman: Digital Image Processing - January 29, 2013

10

Analysis of Phase
Frequency = time derivative of phase d(t) = L M (x, y, t) dt
t

(t ) =
0 t

L M (x, y, )d LMo + xLGx( ) + yLGy ( )d

0

= ot + xkx(t) + yky (t) where we dene o = L Mo

t

k x (t ) =
0 t

LGx( )d LGy ( )d
0

k y (t ) =

C. A. Bouman: Digital Image Processing - January 29, 2013

11

Received Signal from Voxel

RF Antenna

Voxel of Selected Slice

RF signal from a single voxel has the form r(t) = f (x, y )ej(t) = f (x, y )ej (ot+xkx(t)+yky (t)) = f (x, y )ejotej (xkx(t)+yky (t))

C. A. Bouman: Digital Image Processing - January 29, 2013

12

Received Signal from Selected Slice

Y axis Selected Slice 0 RF Antenna

X axis

RF signal from the complete slice is given by R (t ) =

I R I R

r(x, y, t)dxdy f (x, y )ejotej (xkx(t)+yky (t))dxdy

I R I R

= = ejot

f (x, y )ej (xkx(t)+yky (t))dxdy

I R I R

= ejotF (kx(t), ky (t)) were F (u, v ) is the CSFT of f (x, y )

C. A. Bouman: Digital Image Processing - January 29, 2013

13

K-Space Interpretation of Demodulated Signal

RF signal from the complete slice is given by F (kx(t), ky (t)) = R(t)ejot where
t

k x (t ) =
0 t

LGx( )d LGy ( )d
0

k y (t ) = Strategy

Scan spatial frequencies by varying kx(t) and ky (t) Reconstruct image by performing (inverse) CSFT Gx(t) and Gy (t) control velocity through K-space

C. A. Bouman: Digital Image Processing - January 29, 2013

14

Controlling K-Space Trajectory

Relationship between gradient coil voltage and K-space di(t) = v x ( t ) G x ( t ) = M x i( t ) Lx dt Ly di(t) = v y ( t ) G y ( t ) = M y i( t ) dt
t 0 t 0 0 0

using this results in LMx k x (t ) = Lx LMy k y (t ) = Ly vx(s)dsd vy (s)dsd

vx(t) and vy (t) are like the accelerator peddles for kx(t) and ky (t)

C. A. Bouman: Digital Image Processing - January 29, 2013

15

Echo Planer Imaging (EPI) Scan Pattern

A commonly used raster scan pattern through K-space

Ky

Serpintine Scan

0 t LMx Gx( )d = k x (t ) = L Lx 0
t

Kx
t 0 t 0 0 0

vx(s)dsd vy (s)dsd

k y (t ) = L
0

LMy Gy ( )d = Ly

C. A. Bouman: Digital Image Processing - January 29, 2013

16

Gradient Waveforms for EPI

Gradient waveforms in x and y look like
Gx(t)

Gy(t)

Voltage waveforms in x and y look like

Vx(t)

Vy(t)