Introduction

• MRI is a technique that produces tomographic images by

means of strong magnetic fields and radiofrequency (RF)
pulses
• During MRI we put the patient inside a strong magnet, we
send a radiofrequency pulse, we stop the radiofrequency pulse
and we receive a signal (RF) which is used to create MR image
• The MR image depends not just on a single parameter such as
attenuation coefficient in CT but on three independent
principle parameters (T1, T2 & Spin density) plus several other
secondary parameters such as flow, diffusion and magnetic
susceptibility etc.
 Invention
• 1924 Wolfgang Pauli suggested that some nuclei spin
• 1946 Felix Bloch first reported Nuclear Magnetic Resonance
• Late 1960s to early 1970s basis for diagnostic MRI was
developed (MRS)
• 1972 Paul Lauterber & Peter Mansfield produced the first MR
image. Awarded Nobel prize in 2003.
• 1975 Raymond Damadian produced first live animal MR image
• 1978 the first human head MRI scan was obtained
 Advantages of MRI
• Best low contrast resolution
• No ionizing radiation
• Direct multi-planar imaging
• No bone or air artifacts
• Direct flow measurement
• Contrast media seldom required
• Totally non-invasive
 Nuclear magnetism
• The nucleus of an atom is a tiny but
highly charged piece of matter
(proton)
• The nucleus is spinning all the time
and thus posses an angular
momentum
• The rotating charge (proton) act like a
current loop and produces a magnetic
field
• A proton can thus be considered as a
tiny bar magnet
• These protons are randomly oriented
in our body and the net magnetic
moment of our body is zero
 Nuclear magnetism
• When we put protons into an
external magnetic field they
tend to align with the field as
does any magnet
• The protons not just align
parallel to the external magnetic
field but they also align anti-
parallel to the external magnetic
field
• Parallel alignment is the
preferred (low energy state) so a
few more (6 out of 2 million for
1.0 T) will align in parallel than
anti-parallel
Magnetic field
Alignment of protons
 Alignment of protons
• At a given instant a
slight more protons
will align in parallel
than in anti parallel
direction
• The difference will
depend upon the
strength of the
external magnetic
field
 Nuclear magnetism
• The protons not just align parallel
or anti-parallel with the external
magnetic field instead they also
move around in a rotating manner,
and the type of movement is called
precession
• The frequency of precession is very
important in MRI and is influenced
by the strength of external
magnetic field
• It is necessary and possible to
precisely calculate the processional
frequency by an equation known as
Larmour Equation
 Larmour equation

ω 0 = γ B0
ω0 = Precessional frequency
γ = Gyromagnetic ratio
B0 = External magnetic field in Tesla (T)

1 T = 1 Newton/Ampere.meter
When a wire carrying a current of 1 Ampere perpendicular to the magnetic field
experiences a deflecting force of 1.0 Newton (N) along each meter of the wire the
magnetic flux density is said to be 1Tesla.
 Larmour frequency
• The gyromagnetic ratio is fixed for each
element therefore the precessional frequency
is also fixed for a given magnetic field strength
• In a homogenous magnetic field all protons in
a nucleus of a given type of element will
rotate with exactly the same frequency & this
frequency is known as Larmour frequency
Gyromagnetic Ratio
 Magnetic moment
• A magnetic moment is a vector used to
describe the tendency of an object to interact
with an external magnetic field
• In MRI the intrinsic magnetic properties of a
proton is visualized as emanating from a tiny
bar magnet with north and south poles (the
"dipoles"), and is therefore also called the
magnetic dipole moment.
 Resonance
• Resonance occurs when one harmonically
vibrating system interacts with another system
of equal preferred frequency
• The determination of Larmour frequency of
precession is carried out by making use of a
process called resonance
• The most efficient energy transfer between
systems occur at resonance
 Nuclear Magnetic Resonance
(NMR)

• It is the transfer of energy between the

precessing protons in the external magnetic
field and the applied radio frequency pulse
(RF)
• For NMR or simply magnetic resonance (MR)
to occur the applied RF pulse should have
exactly the same frequency as that of the
precessing protons (Larmour frequency)
 Magnetic Nuclei

• Materials that participate in MR process must

contain nuclei with specific magnetic
properties

• We can only use nuclei that have a net spin or

an odd number of nuclear particles
(protons/neutrons)
Magnetic Nuclei
 Magnetic nuclei present in human body

• Hydrogen -1
• Carbon -13
• Nitrogen -15 Low isotopic abundance

• Oxygen -17
• Fluorine -19
• Sodium -23 Low tissue concentration
• Phosphorous -31
• Potassium -39
After the RF Pulse is switched off
Longitudinal Relaxation
After the RF pulse is switched off
Transverse Relaxation
Free Induction Decay (FID)
 Process of Image formation
• To obtain an image from a patient, it is not
just enough to put him/her into the magnet.
We have to do a little bit more than that.
• Following are the steps:
– Excitation
– Relaxation
– Acquisition
– Computing and Display
 Excitation
• Determination of
larmour frequency
• Sending of RF pulse
which creates
resonance
• The net magnetization
vector is flipped to
transverse direction
 Relaxation

• Giving off the energy absorbed by the protons

during excitation

• There are two types of relaxation processes

– Longitudinal/Spin-lattice or T1 relaxation
– Transverse/Spin-spin or T2 relaxation
 T1 relaxation
– T1 relaxation is re-growth of net
magnetization along the Z axis
also known as spin lattice
relaxation
– T1 relaxation happens to the
protons that experienced the
excitation pulse
– T1 is the time constant which
describes how MZ returns to its
equilibrium value
– The rate of T1 relaxation is
different for different tissues (T1
relaxation in fat is faster than in
water as hydrogen atoms are
tightly bound in fat tissue than in
water)
 T1 relaxation curve
T1 is the time constant in the T1 relaxation
curve which represents the regrowth of 63%
of longitudinal magnetization. M z (t) = M 0 (1 - e–t/T1 )
When t = T1 then 1- e-1 = 0.63 and Mz = 0.63 M0

(1-1/e)
T1 relaxation after a 900 pulse
 T2 relaxation
• T2 relaxation describes what happens in X-Y plane right after
the excitation pulse
• The excitation pulse causes the net magnetization vector to
flip in X-Y plane and it also makes the protons spin in phase
• So right after the excitation pulse the magnetization vector
(now called the transverse magnetization) is rotating in the
X-Y plane
• The phase coherence will be lost very soon after the
excitation pulse due to spin-spin interaction
• This process of getting from total in-phase situation to total
out-phase situation is called T2 relaxation
• T2 relaxation rate is also different for different tissues
In-phase & Out-phase
 T2 relaxation curve

T2 is the time constant in the T2 relaxation curve

Which represents the reduction of transverse
Magnetization to 37% of its maximum. Mxy (t) = M0 e–t/T2
When t = T2 then e-1 = 0.37 and Mxy = 0.37 M0

(1/e)
T2 relaxation
 T1 and T2 relaxation times
for various tissues
Tissue T1(0.5T) ms T1(1.5T) ms T2 ms

Fat 210 260 80

Liver 350 500 42

Muscle 550 870 45

White matter 500 780 90

Gray matter 650 920 100

CSF 1800 2400 160

 Factors affecting T1 & T2
• T1
– Molecular size and motion
– Magnetic field strength
• T2
– Tissue characteristics (spin-spin interaction)
• T2*
– Spin-spin interaction
T2*
– Magnetic field effects
• Field Inhomogeneities
• Magnetic susceptibilities
 Acquisition
• During relaxation processes the spins give up their
excess energy in the form of RF waves and to
produce an image we need to pick up these waves
before they disappear into space
• The receiver coil must be positioned at right angles
to the external magnetic field to pick up these waves
which induces a current in the receiver coil (MR
signal)
• We receive MR signal only during T2 relaxation. T2
relaxation is a decaying process consequently the
signal that is received is strong in the beginning and
quickly becomes weaker. This signal is called Free
Induction Decay (FID) and last only for about 40 ms
Signal acquisition
Computing and Display
 Signal encoding in MRI
• When we put a patient inside a MRI gantry, all the
protons in the body will start precessing with a
specific frequency determined by Larmour equation.
If we acquire a signal we will receive similar signal
from head to toe
 Signal encoding
• Signal encoding is very important in MRI to
spatially localize from which point of the body
the signal is coming
• If the signal which is in RF range differs in
phase, frequency and amplitude in a
particular volume of tissue (voxels) the signal
is spatially localized
• The spatial localization of signal from the
patients’ body is possible with the help of
Gradient Coils
 Gradient Coils
• Gradient coils are a set of wires (about 10mm wide &
4mm thick conductors carrying currents in the range
of >30Amps) in the magnet, which enable us to
create additional magnetic fields, which are, in a way,
superimposed on the main magnetic field B0
• There are 3 sets of wires. Each set can create a
magnetic field in a specific direction: Z, X or Y.
• When a current is fed into the Z gradient, then a
magnetic field is generated in the Z direction. The
same goes for the other gradients.
Gradient Coils
Gradient coils in MRI system
 Gradient coil function

1. Slice encoding
2. Phase encoding
3. Frequency encoding
4. Gradient echo (Dephasing/Rephasing)
5. 3D slicing
Slice encoding
Slice selection
 Slice selection

A slice is selected but with all the protons having same frequency and phase
Phase encoding
 Phase encoded slice

After the phase encoding gradient is switched off

Frequency encoding
An MR image
 Fourier transformation
• The signal received contains a complex
mixture of frequencies, phases and
amplitudes each from a different location
(voxel)
• Fourier transformation analyses and separates
these information from a complex signal that
varies with time.
• Converts the signal from the time domain into
the frequency domain.
 Gradient Specifications
• Gradient strength: It is the difference of gradient magnetic
field per unit length (mT/m) 19 – 50mT/m
• Rise Time: The time taken by the gradients to reach to its
maximum strength after switching on is called Rise Time (ms)
• Slew Rate: When we divide the maximum strength by the rise
time we get a number which is called Slew rate (mT/m/ms)
46 - 200mT/m/ms (T/m/s)
• For a given MRI system, it should have:
– Maximum strength
– Shortest possible Rise Time
– Highest possible Slew rate
 Number of encodings
• Typically Phase Encoding can only be done
one row at a time.
• In order to scan the whole slice the entire
process of slice encoding, phase encoding and
frequency encoding has to be repeated as
many times as specified by the parameter
Matrix (Phase encoding steps) e.g. 256x512
• This also explains the necessity of the scan
parameter Repetition Time (TR).
 Slice thickness
• Slice selection is performed by the application
of slice encoding gradient, but the thickness of
slice is determined by:

– The bandwidth of the 90 degree RF pulse or the

excitation pulse
– The steepness of the slope of the gradient
Slice thickness
 K-space
• k-space is an array of
numbers representing
spatial frequencies in the
MR image
• The MRI data prior to
becoming an image (raw or
unprocessed data) is what
makes up “k-space”.
• A k-space is similar to the
matrix and can be divided
into four equal quarters by X
and Y axis line
 K-space
Although the k-space "galaxy" and MR image appear
quite different, they contain identical information
about the scanned object
Information in k-space
K-space filling
K-space filling technique