J Korean Soc Magn Reson Med.
2001 Dec;5(2):138-148.
High Resolution MR Images from 3T Active-Shield Whole-Body MRI System
- Affiliations
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- 1Department of Biomedical Engineering, Kangnam St. Mary's Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Korea. bychoe@cmc.cuk.ac.kr
- 2Department of Radiology, Kangnam St. Mary's Hospital, College of Medicine,The Catholic University of Korea, Korea.
- 3Medinus Co, Korea.
- 4Department of Electrical Engineering, Kwangwoon University, Korea.
- 5Department of Electronics and Information Engineering, Korea University, Korea.
- 6Department of Electrical Engineering, KAIST, Korea.
- 7Department of Hanyang Institute of Technology, Hanyang University, Korea.
- 8Dongbo System Co, Korea.
Abstract
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PURPOSE: Within a clinically acceptable time frame, we obtained the high resolution MR images of the human brain, knee, foot and wrist from 3T whole-body MRI system which was equipped with the world first 3T active shield magnet.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Spin echo (SE) and Fast Spin Echo (FSE) images were obtained from the human brain, knee, foot and wrist of normal subjects using a homemade birdcage and transverse electromagnetic (TEM) resonators operating in quadrature and tuned to 128 MHz. For acquisition of MR images of knee, foot and wrist, we employed a homemade saddle shaped RF coil. Typical common acquisition parameters were as follows: matrix= 512x512, field of view (FOV) = 20 cm, slice thickness = 3 mm, number of excitations (NEX) = 1. For T1-weighted MR images, we used TR= 500 ms, TE = 10 or 17.4 ms. For T2-weighted MR images, we used TR=4000 ms, TE = 108 ms.
RESULTS
Signal to noise ratio (SNR) of 3T system was measured 2.7 times greater than that of prevalent 1.5T system. MR images obtained from 3T system revealed numerous small venous structures throughout the image plane and provided reasonable delineation between gray and white matter.
CONCLUSION
The present results demonstrate that the MR images from 3T system could provide better diagnostic quality of resolution and sensitivity than those of 1.5T system. The elevated SNR observed in the 3T high field magnetic resonance imaging can be utilized to acquire images with a level of resolution approaching the microscopic structural level under in vivo conditions. These images represent a significant advance in our ability to examine small anatomical features with noninvasive imaging methods.
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