Fundamentals of MRI

Ysmael O. Alip, RRT

History
HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT
1946
Felix Bloch and Edward Purcell first discovered the properties of magnetic resonance

1952 Bloch and Purcell shared a Nobel Prize in Physics

Raymond Damadian showed that the relaxation time of water in a tumor differed from the
1971 relaxation time of water in normal tissue
Paul Lauterbur published the first cross-sectional image of objects (two water-filled
1973
capillary tubes) obtained with MRI technique
1975 Damadian obtained the first animal images
Damadian produced the MR image of the whole body
1977
Peter Mansfield improves mathematics behind MRI
1978 The first human head scans were obtained followed by first human body scans
1980 MRI was progressing rapidly
“BASIC”
Principles
Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Founded on the Nuclear Magnetic

principles of NMR Resonance

Independently discover by
Felix Bloch and Edward
Purcell
Proton Precession and Resonance
Atoms with odd atomic numbers generates a “magnetic Moment

• When placed under an external magnetic field, they tend to line up “almost parallel” to the
direction of the magnetic field. Either UP or Down
Since they don’t actually line up exactly parallel, they create an
angular momentum.
• This angular momentum is when the proton revolves around the external magnetic field at a
given angle.

This revolution is called a “SPIN” or “Precession”

• This spins are then manipulated to create a MR image

Larmour Frequency
The frequency at which the nucleus
precesses

Note:
The product of magnetic field strength and
gyromagnetic ratio

• The Gyromagnetic Ratio is constant and is unique for every element

• RF above or below the Larmour
The frequency at which the nucleus will frequency can not affect the protons
absorb energy that will cause it to change
alignment
• A radio frequency at larmour frequency will change the alignment of
proton from the main magnetic field.
Resonance

Refers to the property of the precessing nucleus in which it

absorbs energy only at the Larmour frequency
Magnetic Fields
1. The magnetic unifor
field must be m
uniform at all
strength points
2. The resonant
frequency is
dependent on
the magnetic
field strength
Magnets
Superconducting Magnets
Most commonly used
CRYOGENS
The magnetic field can be maintained Liquid Liquid
over long periods of time
helium Nitrogen
Does not require a constant source of •−270 °C
energy or electricity (about 4 K or •-196⁰C or -
−452.2 °F 321⁰F or 77.2 K
•Fills the dewar
Magnetic field strengths >0.5 T •Where the to prevent the
wires of liquid helium
magnets are from boiling off
Contained in a cylinder 55 to 70 cm in diameter bathe
Resistive Magnets
Similar to superconducting magnets

Does not need to be cooled

Requires a power supply to generate a magnetic field

More coslty

Not seen in commercial systems at field strengths higher

than 0.4 T
Permanent Magnets
Operates only up to 0.4 T

No power supply needed Disadvantag

No cryogens required e
Direction of magnetic field is •Weight
perpendicular to the long axis of the •Cost of magnet and
body supportive structures
Requires RF Coils with a different axis •Susceptibility to Hysteresis
(orthogonal plane) •Precluded use at higher field
strength
Less costly
Field Homogeneity
Defined as the difference in the
strength of the magnetic field
Measured by measuring points
along the surface of the SPHERE Shimming
Parts per million •Inside – the center of
magnetic field decreases in
1.5 T = ±2.5 ppm per 40 cm Sphere strength
•Outside – center of
magnetic field increase
A magnetic shielding is usually strength
placed near the magnet
Magnetization
and
Relaxation
Net Magnetization
The sum of contributions of all the magnetic moment of
individual protons
At room temperature – 1:1,000,000 contributes to signal
generation

Components
Longitudinal Transverse
Magnetization Magnetization
•Net magnetization along •-magnetization on to the
orthogonal to the main
the static magnetic field magnetic field
Relaxation
A 90⁰ RF pulse a the Larmour frequency flips
the proton alignment

After that, the proton begins to realign to its

initial state (main static field)

Components

• Longitudinal
Longitudinal Relaxation
• T1 Relaxation
• Measure of the time in which the longitudinal component grow to
63% of its original value
• Also referred to as “SPIN-LATTICE RELAXATION”
• The regrowth of longitudinal magnetization

Bound Water Fluids

•Shorter T1 Relaxation time •-longer T1 Relaxation time
Transverse Relaxation
• T2 Relaxation
• Measure of the time in which the transverse component decayed to
37% of its original value
• Also referred to as “SPIN-SPIN RELAXATION”
• The decay of transverse magnetization
• The decay is caused by “Dephasing” of the spins
• T2 must always be less than or equal to T1
Longitudinal Relaxation Transverse Relaxation
T1 T2
Gains 63% Decays 37%
Spin – Lattice relaxation Spin – spin relaxation
 Dephasing of T2
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Out of
In Phase Phase
•Individual components add-up •Individual components cancel out
•Gains transverse magnetization •Loss of transverse magnetization
•Strong MR signal •No MR signals
Free Induction Decay (FID)
Dephasing of the magnetization in the transverse plane

Manipulation of the FID is used to create MR images

Spin Echo Pulse Gradient

Sequence Echo
•RF Pulse is used to refocus the FID and create •Magnetic field gradients is used to refocus the
an echo FID to create an echo
Imaging Coils
 Two Categories According to Function

Transmit and
Receive only
Receive
•More efficient •Receive only those closer to the part
•Lower SNR •High SNR
•⬆size of coil ⬇SNR
•Closer coil ⬇energy required ⬇ SAR
•⬆size of coil ⬆FOV
•Eg. •Eg.
•Whole body coil •Surface coil
•Head coil •Local coils
Gradient Coil
There are three gradient magnets inside the MRI
machine.X,Y and Z coils are positioned differently
to create a variable field for the measurement. 

range in strength from 180 gauss to 270

gauss.

Coil Direction Plane produced

X Left to right Sagittal
Y Top to bottom Coronal
Z Head to toe Axial/transverse
Radio Frequency Coils
Trans Must be large enough
mit RF to comfortably hold a
anten Proton person
nas • ⬆coil size ⬇ receiver sensitivity
• ⬆coil size⬆ power is needed
Permanent
Emits Flip and
energy relax
Solenoid coils is best used
1985

Quadrature RF Reception By theory, this increases

was introduced the SNR by 40%

It receives and sums up

signals from both orthogonal
axes from the magnetic field
Surface Coils
Used for imaging body parts in which a homogenous field is not necessary

• Signals are intensely closer to the coil and dies out as it moves further to the coil.

Allows imaging of spine; shoulders; orbits at higher resolution

• Uses separate transmit and receive coils

Rules for Surface Coils
1. Match the coil to the anatomy or area desired to image

2. Match the FOV to the size of coil

MR Tissue Contrast
Characteristic
Three Major Contributors

Proton Density T1 weighted

T2 weighted
T1 VS T2 RELAXATION
T1 Relaxation T2 Relaxation
• “T – One” = one proton of hydrogen • “T – two” = two protons of hydrogen
• Individual protons realigns to the • Two or more protons precess
main magnetic field together
 Spin Density Values Tissue
Muscle
Value
100
White Matter 100
Fat 98
CSF 96
Kidney 95
High concentration of Hydrogen
Stronger longitudinal Gray matter 94
magnetization
Spleen 92
Liver 91
Blood 90
Pancreas 86
Cortical Bone 1-10
High level signal Bright image
Lung 1-5
Air <1
T1 and T2 Time Values
T2 time values is “always” shorter than T1 Values for the
same tissue

Tissue Time (ms) Tissue Time (ms)

Fat 180 Fat 90
Liver 270 Liver 50
White matter 390 White matter 90
Spleen 480 Spleen 80
Grey matter 520 Grey matter 100
Muscle 600 Muscle 40
Blood 800 Blood 180
CSF 2000 CSF 300
Water 2500 Water 2500
Spin Echo Imaging (T2)
90⁰ RF pulse is insufficient because the signals fade away rapidly due to T2*
Relaxation
• 180⁰ RF pulse is applied to rephase the protons thus producing stronger signals

180⁰ RF is not always as strong as the original FID

• The loss of signal between the original FID and the 180⁰ rephrased echo is due to T2*
relaxation

Echo are signals from the rephrasing of protons

Each echo has a reduced signal due to T2* relaxation

Spin Echo Parameters

TR TE
•Amount of time that elapses between 90⁰ RF •Time of listening to echoes
pulse on a given slice •Standard spin echo 10 to 120 ms
•350 to 3000 ms for standard spin-echo imaging
•Defines how much measurable
•Time we allow the individual proton vectors to
realign with the main magnet signals are maintained or loss by
•Defines how much magnetization or signal each allowing little or a lot of dephasing to
tissue recovers occur
 Image Weighting
Spin Density T1 weighted T2 Weighted

•Long TR •Short TR •Long TR

•Short TE •Short TE •Long TE
 Standard Sequence Parameters
Field or Inversion
Spin Echo Gradient Echo Recovery
•Starts with a •Begins with a flip •Begins with a
90⁰ RF Pulse angle usually 180⁰ RF pulse
followed by a <90⁰ followed by a
180⁰ refocusing •Gradient reversal conventional spin-
pulse technique is used echo technique
 PARAMETERS
Parameter Description

• Repetition Time  The amount of time between successive pulse-sequence is applied

(TR)  How quickly the RF pulse is applied

• Echo Time (TE)  Time when the returning signal is received

 How frequent we listen to the echo signals
• Flip Angle <90⁰  Controls the amount of vector component that will be forced by the RF into the
transverse plane
• Inversion Time (TI)  The time between the inverting 180⁰ RF pulse and 90⁰ excitation pulse
 Greatly influences the contrast of an Inversion Recovery Pulse Sequence
• Slice Thickness  Depth of a 3-dimensional volume of imaged area
• GAP  A space between consecutive slices controlled with the offset of frequency of the
RF pulsea
 Eliminates cross contamination
 Improves SNR
 PARAMETERS
Parameter Description

• Number of  Number of times we collect data per phase encode step and average information
Acquisitions to produce one image
• Voxel Volume  This is where the MR signal is extracted during Fourier transform
• Pixel  Contributes to the resolving power of the image (resolution)
• Matrix  Number of rows and columns of pixels in an image
 Defined by the number of phase encoding steps (Y gradient) and frequency
encoding (X gradient)
• FOV  Total dimension of the anatomic region of interest
 Selected to cover a particular tissue volume
• Echo-train-length  Total number of echoes collected during 1 TR of 1 slice
(ETL)
• Echo-Train-spacing  The spacing between two echoes (T1,T2, and Proton density)
• Effective Echo Time  Relative echo time visualized on the final image
 Contributes most to the contrast of the image
Standard MR Pulse
Sequence
Spin Echo Sequence
Proton spins are aligned to the Bo Magnetic field Larmour frequency
strength
1.5 T 63 MHz
A 90⁰ RF pulse is applied and flip the protons to
the transverse plane 1T 42. 58 MHz
0.5 T 21 MHz

Transverse magnetization is created 0.2 T 8.3 MHz

𝑓 ₒ=𝛾 Β ₒ
Spin Echo Sequence
T1 Weighted Image
Fat is white

Water is dark

New blood is bright

Usefull for:
Anatomic detail
Vascular changes
Disruption in BBB
 Spin Echo Sequence
T2 Weighted Image
Fat is dark

Water is bright

Flow is dark (blood vessel)

Usefull for:
Anatomic detail (CSF Spaces
Most lesions (in general)
Not useful for distinguishing lesions in CSF
 Inversion Recovery

Heavily T1 weighted
STIR FLAIR
Effective in determining small lesions •Short T1 •Long T1
or internal structure of lesions •Long TR – longer
than standard T2 •Suppression of
Flips the spin into 180 degrees into •Fat CSF filled
the negative longitudinal direction •Catches fat at the ventricles
null point •Required TR
•STIR + Gadolinium =
effective detection of values >500ms
breast lesions •TI 2000 ms
 Inversion Recovery
Fluid Attenuation inversion recovery
T2 but CSF is dark (free flowing water)

Fat is dark

Non free flowing water is bright

Usefull for:
Same as T2
Delineation of lesions near ventricles
Edema
Spin echo
 Gradient Echo Sequence
Paramagnetic substances are dark:
blood
calcium
other metals

Uses flip angle <90 degrees

Followed by a gradient reversal

Usefull for:
Early hemorrhage
Old hemorrhage
Edema
 DWI (Diffusion Weighted Images)
Fluid restriction is bright

Faster scan time compared to other

sequences

Must be correlated with ADC

(apparent diffusion correlation)

Usefull for:
Ischemia
Abscess
Seizures
 Artifacts
Physiologic Artifacts

Inherent Physic Artifacts

Chemical Shift Artifact

Hardware and mechanical Artifact

 Physiologic Artifacts
How to avoid motion artifact?
Motion Flow  Sedation
Artifact Artifact  Sponges
 Cardiac gating
•Most frequently •Capable of  Respiratory gating
encountered producing  Breath hold
artifact severe  Swapping phase (frequently use
•Results in in spine imaging) (eliminates
Fuzziness on the motion ghost motion artifacts)
image or lack of artifact  Fast imaging (short T2)
crispiness or detail •Eg. Blood flow
Inherent Physics Artifact
Aliasing Metal Chemical
Artifact Artifact Shift Artifact
•When an object •Next to motion •Appearance: dark
imaged is under artifacts band on one side
sampled •Appears as dark of the interface
•The object is larger •CLIP artifact, manifest between fat and
than the FOV as “High intensity”
•Solution: larger FOV where the signals are water and bright
and use of surface misregistered band on the other
coil •Solution: Screening side
Hardware and Mechanical Artifact
Truncation Radiofreque FID or Zipper
Artifact ncy Artifact Artifact
•Appearance: multiple
rings of irregular •Appearance: •Appearance:
periodicity or discreet line of star artifact
duplication at noise “Zipper”
transitions between
high and low intensity lines across the •Mimics a RF
signals image in to the discreet
•Gibb’s Artifact – a type
of truncation artifact phase direction. artifact
Hardware and Mechanical Artifact
Herringbone Non Uniformity
Artifact Artifact
•Appearance: faint to •Appearance: discreet line of
gross herringbone fabric noise “Zipper” lines across
the image in to the phase
patterns direction.
•Criss-cross •Inhomogeneous brightness
•Decreased SNR or darkness