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Aigner CS, Dietrich-Conzelmann S, Lutz M, Krüger F, Schmitter S. Tailored and universal parallel transmit broadband pulses for homogeneous 3D excitation of the human heart at 7T. Magn Reson Med 2024; 92:730-740. [PMID: 38440957 DOI: 10.1002/mrm.30072] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/11/2023] [Revised: 01/31/2024] [Accepted: 02/13/2024] [Indexed: 03/06/2024]
Abstract
PURPOSE To research and evaluate the performance of broadband tailored kT-point pulses (TP) and universal pulses (UP) for homogeneous excitation of the human heart at 7T. METHODS Relative 3DB 1 + $$ {\mathrm{B}}_1^{+} $$ -maps of the thorax were acquired from 29 healthy volunteers. TP and UP were designed using the small-tip-angle approximation for a different composition of up to seven resonance frequencies. TP were computed for each of the 29B 1 + $$ {\mathrm{B}}_1^{+} $$ -maps, and UPs were calculated using 22B 1 + $$ {\mathrm{B}}_1^{+} $$ -maps and tested in seven testcases. The performance of the pulses was analyzed using the coefficient of variation (CV) in the 3D heart volumes. The 3D gradient-echo (GRE) scans were acquired for the seven testcases to qualitatively validate theB 1 + $$ {\mathrm{B}}_1^{+} $$ -predictions. RESULTS Single- and double-frequency optimized pulses achieved homogeneity in flip angle (FA) for the frequencies they were optimized for, while the broadband pulses achieved uniformity in FA across a 1300 Hz frequency range. CONCLUSION Broadband TP and UP can be used for homogeneous excitation of the heart volume across a 1300 Hz frequency range, including the water and the main six fat peaks, or with longer pulse durations and higher FAs for a smaller transmit bandwidth. Moreover, despite large inter-volunteer variations, broadband UP can be used for calibration-free 3D heart FA homogenization in time-critical situations.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Max Lutz
- Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), Braunschweig and Berlin, Germany
| | - Felix Krüger
- Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), Braunschweig and Berlin, Germany
| | - Sebastian Schmitter
- Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), Braunschweig and Berlin, Germany
- University of Minnesota, Center for Magnetic Resonance Research, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
- Medical Physics in Radiology, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany
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2
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Schmidt S, Ertürk MA, He X, Haluptzok T, Eryaman Y, Metzger GJ. Improved 1 H body imaging at 10.5 T: Validation and VOP-enabled imaging in vivo with a 16-channel transceiver dipole array. Magn Reson Med 2024; 91:513-529. [PMID: 37705412 PMCID: PMC10850915 DOI: 10.1002/mrm.29866] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/23/2023] [Revised: 08/04/2023] [Accepted: 08/28/2023] [Indexed: 09/15/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE To increase the RF coil performance and RF management for body imaging at 10.5 T by validating and evaluating a high-density 16-channel transceiver array, implementing virtual observation points (VOPs), and demonstrating specific absorption rate (SAR) constrained imaging in vivo. METHODS The inaccuracy of the electromagnetic model of the array was quantified based on B1 + and SAR data. Inter-subject variability was estimated using a new approach based on the relative SAR deviation of different RF shims between human body models. The pTx performance of the 16-channel array was assessed in simulation by comparison to a previously demonstrated 10-channel array. In vivo imaging of the prostate was performed demonstrating SAR-constrained static RF shimming and acquisition modes optimized for refocused echoes (AMORE). RESULTS The model inaccuracy of 29% and the inter-subject variability of 85% resulted in a total safety factor of 1.91 for pelvis studies. For renal and cardiac imaging, inter-subject variabilities of 121% and 141% lead to total safety factors of 2.25 and 2.45, respectively. The shorter wavelength at 10.5 T supported the increased element density of the 16-channel array which in turn outperformed the 10-channel version for all investigated metrics. Peak 10 g local SAR reduction of more than 25% without a loss of image quality was achieved in vivo, allowing a theoretical improvement in measurement efficiency of up to 66%. CONCLUSIONS By validating and characterizing a 16-channel dipole transceiver array, this work demonstrates, for the first time, a VOP-enabled RF coil for human torso imaging enabling increased pTx performance at 10.5 T.
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Affiliation(s)
- Simon Schmidt
- Center for Magnetic Resonance Research, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
| | - M. Arcan Ertürk
- Center for Magnetic Resonance Research, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
| | - Xiaoxuan He
- Center for Magnetic Resonance Research, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
| | - Tobey Haluptzok
- Center for Magnetic Resonance Research, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
| | - Yiğitcan Eryaman
- Center for Magnetic Resonance Research, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
| | - Gregory J. Metzger
- Center for Magnetic Resonance Research, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
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3
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de Buck MHS, Kent JL, Jezzard P, Hess AT. Head-and-neck multichannel B1 + mapping and RF shimming of the carotid arteries using a 7T parallel-transmit head coil. Magn Reson Med 2024; 91:190-204. [PMID: 37794847 PMCID: PMC10962593 DOI: 10.1002/mrm.29845] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/14/2023] [Revised: 08/01/2023] [Accepted: 08/10/2023] [Indexed: 10/06/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE Neurovascular MRI suffers from a rapid drop in B1 + into the neck when using transmit head coils at 7 T. One solution to improving B1 + magnitude in the major feeding arteries in the neck is to use custom RF shims on parallel-transmit head coils. However, calculating such shims requires robust multichannel B1 + maps in both the head and the neck, which is challenging due to low RF penetration into the neck, limited dynamic range of multichannel B1 + mapping techniques, and B0 sensitivity. We therefore sought a robust, large-dynamic-range, parallel-transmit field mapping protocol and tested whether RF shimming can improve carotid artery B1 + magnitude in practice. METHODS A pipeline is presented that combines B1 + mapping data acquired using circularly polarized (CP) and CP2-mode RF shims at multiple voltages. The pipeline was evaluated by comparing the predicted and measured B1 + for multiple random transmit shims, and by assessing the ability of RF shimming to increase B1 + in the carotid arteries. RESULTS The proposed method achieved good agreement between predicted and measured B1 + in both the head and the neck. The B1 + magnitude in the carotid arteries can be increased by 43% using tailored RF shims or by 37% using universal RF shims, while also improving the RF homogeneity compared with CP mode. CONCLUSION B1 + in the neck can be increased using RF shims calculated from multichannel B1 + maps in both the head and the neck. This can be achieved using universal phase-only RF shims, facilitating easy implementation in existing sequences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthijs H. S. de Buck
- FMRIB Division, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Wellcome Centre for Integrative NeuroimagingUniversity of OxfordOxfordUK
| | - James L. Kent
- FMRIB Division, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Wellcome Centre for Integrative NeuroimagingUniversity of OxfordOxfordUK
| | - Peter Jezzard
- FMRIB Division, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Wellcome Centre for Integrative NeuroimagingUniversity of OxfordOxfordUK
| | - Aaron T. Hess
- FMRIB Division, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Wellcome Centre for Integrative NeuroimagingUniversity of OxfordOxfordUK
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4
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Dietrich S, Aigner CS, Mayer J, Kolbitsch C, Schulz-Menger J, Schaeffter T, Schmitter S. Motion-compensated fat-water imaging for 3D cardiac MRI at ultra-high fields. Magn Reson Med 2022; 87:2621-2636. [PMID: 35092090 DOI: 10.1002/mrm.29144] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/26/2021] [Revised: 11/23/2021] [Accepted: 12/14/2021] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
PURPOSE Respiratory motion-compensated (MC) 3D cardiac fat-water imaging at 7T. METHODS Free-breathing bipolar 3D triple-echo gradient-recalled-echo (GRE) data with radial phase-encoding (RPE) trajectory were acquired in 11 healthy volunteers (7M\4F, 21-35 years, mean: 30 years) with a wide range of body mass index (BMI; 19.9-34.0 kg/m2 ) and volunteer tailored B 1 + shimming. The bipolar-corrected triple-echo GRE-RPE data were binned into different respiratory phases (self-navigation) and were used for the estimation of non-rigid motion vector fields (MF) and respiratory resolved (RR) maps of the main magnetic field deviations (ΔB0 ). RR ΔB0 maps and MC ΔB0 maps were compared to a reference respiratory phase to assess respiration-induced changes. Subsequently, cardiac binned fat-water images were obtained using a model-based, respiratory motion-corrected image reconstruction. RESULTS The 3D cardiac fat-water imaging at 7T was successfully demonstrated. Local respiration-induced frequency shifts in MC ΔB0 maps are small compared to the chemical shifts used in the multi-peak model. Compared to the reference exhale ΔB0 map these changes are in the order of 10 Hz on average. Cardiac binned MC fat-water reconstruction reduced respiration induced blurring in the fat-water images, and flow artifacts are reduced in the end-diastolic fat-water separated images. CONCLUSION This work demonstrates the feasibility of 3D fat-water imaging at UHF for the entire human heart despite spatial and temporal B 1 + and B0 variations, as well as respiratory and cardiac motion.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sebastian Dietrich
- Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), Braunschweig and Berlin, Germany
| | | | - Johannes Mayer
- Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), Braunschweig and Berlin, Germany
| | - Christoph Kolbitsch
- Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), Braunschweig and Berlin, Germany
| | - Jeanette Schulz-Menger
- Experimental and Clinical Research Center, A Joint Cooperation between the Charité Medical Faculty and the Max-Delbrueck Center for Molecular Medicine and HELIOS Hospital Berlin Buch, Berlin, Germany.,DZHK (German Center for Cardiovascular Research), Partner Site Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,Helios Clinics Berlin-Buch Department of Cardiology and Nephrology, Berlin, Germany
| | - Tobias Schaeffter
- Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), Braunschweig and Berlin, Germany.,Department of Medical Engineering, Technische Universität Berlin, Germany
| | - Sebastian Schmitter
- Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), Braunschweig and Berlin, Germany.,Center for Magnetic Resonance Research, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
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5
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Ma J, Gruber B, Yan X, Grissom WA. k-Space Domain Parallel Transmit Pulse Design. Magn Reson Med 2021; 85:2568-2579. [PMID: 33244784 PMCID: PMC7902435 DOI: 10.1002/mrm.28601] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/10/2020] [Revised: 10/24/2020] [Accepted: 10/26/2020] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
PURPOSE To accelerate the design of (under- or oversampled) multidimensional parallel transmission pulses. METHODS A k-space domain parallel transmission pulse design algorithm was proposed that produces a sparse matrix relating a complex-valued target excitation pattern to the pulses that produce it, and can be finely parallelized. The algorithm was applied in simulations to the design of 3D SPINS pulses for inner volume excitation in the brain at 7 Tesla. It was characterized in terms of the dependence of computation time, excitation error, and required memory on algorithm parameters, and it was compared to an iterative spatial domain pulse design method in terms of computation time, excitation error, Gibbs ringing, and ability to compensate off-resonance. RESULTS The proposed algorithm achieved approximately 80% faster pulse design compared to the spatial domain method with the same number of parallel threads, with the tradeoff of increased excitation error and RMS RF amplitude. It reduced the memory required to store the design matrix by 99% compared to a full matrix solution. Even with a coarse design grid, the algorithm produced patterns that were free of Gibbs ringing. It was similarly sensitive to k-space undersampling as the spatial domain method, and was similarly capable of compensating for off-resonance. CONCLUSIONS The proposed k-space domain algorithm accelerates and finely parallelizes parallel transmission pulse design, with a modest tradeoff of excitation error and RMS RF amplitude.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jun Ma
- Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science, Nashville, TN, USA
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Bernhard Gruber
- A. A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA, USA
- Division MR Physics, Center for Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, Medical University Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Xinqiang Yan
- Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science, Nashville, TN, USA
- Department of Radiology and Radiological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - William A Grissom
- Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science, Nashville, TN, USA
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
- Department of Radiology and Radiological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
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6
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Berrington A, Považan M, Mirfin C, Bawden S, Park YW, Marsh DC, Bowtell R, Gowland PA. Calibration-free regional RF shims for MRS. Magn Reson Med 2021; 86:611-624. [PMID: 33749010 DOI: 10.1002/mrm.28749] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/06/2020] [Revised: 01/07/2021] [Accepted: 02/04/2021] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
PURPOSE Achieving a desired RF transmit field ( B 1 + ) in small regions of interest is critical for single-voxel MRS at ultrahigh field. Radio-frequency (RF) shimming, using parallel transmission, requires B 1 + mapping and optimization, which limits its ease of use. This work aimed to generate calibration-free RF shims for predefined target regions of interest, which can be applied to any participant, to produce a desired absolute magnitude B 1 + (| B 1 + |). METHODS The RF shims were found offline by joint optimization on a database comprising B 1 + maps from 11 subjects, considering regions of interest in occipital cortex, hippocampus and posterior cingulate, as well as whole brain. The | B 1 + | achieved was compared with a tailored shimming approach, and MR spectra were acquired using tailored and calibration-free shims in 4 participants. Global and local 10g specific-absorption-rate deposition were estimated using Duke and Ella dielectric models. RESULTS There was no difference in the mean | B 1 + | produced using calibration-free versus tailored RF shimming in the occipital cortex (p = .15), hippocampus (p = .5), or posterior cingulate (p = .98), although differences were observed in the RMS error | B 1 + |. Spectra acquired using calibration-free shims had similar SNR and low residual water signal. Under identical power settings, specific-absorption-rate deposition was lower compared with operating in quadrature mode. For example, the total head specific absorption rate was around 35% less for the occipital cortex. CONCLUSION This work demonstrates that static RF shims, optimized offline for small regions, avoid the need for B 1 + mapping and optimization for each region of interest and participant. Furthermore, power settings may be increased when using calibration-free shims, to better take advantage of RF shimming.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adam Berrington
- Sir Peter Mansfield Imaging Centre, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK
| | - Michal Považan
- Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.,F. M. Kirby Research Center for Functional Brain Imaging, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Christopher Mirfin
- Sir Peter Mansfield Imaging Centre, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK
| | - Stephen Bawden
- Sir Peter Mansfield Imaging Centre, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK
| | - Young Woo Park
- Center for Magnetic Resonance Research, Department of Radiology, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Daniel C Marsh
- Sir Peter Mansfield Imaging Centre, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK
| | - Richard Bowtell
- Sir Peter Mansfield Imaging Centre, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK
| | - Penny A Gowland
- Sir Peter Mansfield Imaging Centre, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK
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7
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Van Damme L, Mauconduit F, Chambrion T, Boulant N, Gras V. Universal nonselective excitation and refocusing pulses with improved robustness to off-resonance for Magnetic Resonance Imaging at 7 Tesla with parallel transmission. Magn Reson Med 2020; 85:678-693. [PMID: 32755064 DOI: 10.1002/mrm.28441] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/01/2020] [Revised: 06/25/2020] [Accepted: 07/01/2020] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
PURPOSE In MRI at ultra-high field, the k T -point and spiral nonselective (SPINS) pulse design techniques can be advantageously combined with the parallel transmission (pTX) and universal pulse techniques to create uniform excitation in a calibration-free manner. However, in these approaches, pulse duration is typically increased as compared to standard hard pulses, and excitation quality in regions exhibiting large resonance frequency offsets often suffer. This limitation is inherent to structure of k T -point or SPINS pulse, and likely can be mitigated using parameterization-free pulse design approaches. METHODS The Gradient Ascent Pulse Engineering (GRAPE) algorithm was used to design parameterization-free RF and magnetic field gradient (MFG) waveforms for creating 8 ∘ excitation, up to 105 ∘ scalable refocusing and inversion, nonselectively across the brain. Simulations were performed to provide flip angle normalized root-mean-squares error (FA-NRMSE) estimations for the 8 ∘ and the 180 ∘ k T -point, SPINS, and GRAPE pulses. GRAPE pulses were tested experimentally with anatomical head scans at 7T. RESULTS As compared to k T -points and SPINS, GRAPE provided substantial improvement of excitation, refocusing, and inversion quality at off-resonance while at least preserving the same global FA-NRMSE performance. As compared to k T -points, GRAPE allowed for a substantial reduction of the pulse duration for the 8 ∘ excitation and the 105 ∘ refocusing. CONCLUSIONS Parameterization-free universal nonselective pTX-pulses were successfully computed using GRAPE. Performance gains as compared to k T -points were validated numerically and experimentally for three imaging protocols. In its current implementation, the computational burden of GRAPE limits its use to applications where pulse computations are not subject to time constraints.
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Affiliation(s)
- L Van Damme
- Institut Elie Cartan, Université de Nancy, Nancy, France.,CEA, CNRS, BAOBAB, NeuroSpin, Université Paris-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - F Mauconduit
- CEA, CNRS, BAOBAB, NeuroSpin, Université Paris-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - T Chambrion
- Institut Elie Cartan, Université de Nancy, Nancy, France.,INRIA Nancy Grand Est, Vandœuvre, France
| | - N Boulant
- CEA, CNRS, BAOBAB, NeuroSpin, Université Paris-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - V Gras
- CEA, CNRS, BAOBAB, NeuroSpin, Université Paris-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
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8
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He X, Ertürk MA, Grant A, Wu X, Lagore RL, DelaBarre L, Eryaman Y, Adriany G, Auerbach EJ, Van de Moortele PF, Uğurbil K, Metzger GJ. First in-vivo human imaging at 10.5T: Imaging the body at 447 MHz. Magn Reson Med 2019; 84:289-303. [PMID: 31846121 DOI: 10.1002/mrm.28131] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/22/2019] [Revised: 11/25/2019] [Accepted: 11/26/2019] [Indexed: 01/31/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE To investigate the feasibility of imaging the human torso and to evaluate the performance of several radiofrequency (RF) management strategies at 10.5T. METHODS Healthy volunteers were imaged on a 10.5T whole-body scanner in multiple target anatomies, including the prostate, hip, kidney, liver, and heart. Phase-only shimming and spoke pulses were used to demonstrate their performance in managing the B 1 + inhomogeneity present at 447 MHz. Imaging protocols included both qualitative and quantitative acquisitions to show the feasibility of imaging with different contrasts. RESULTS High-quality images were acquired and demonstrated excellent overall contrast and signal-to-noise ratio. The experimental results matched well with predictions and suggested good translational capabilities of the RF management strategies previously developed at 7T. Phase-only shimming provided increased efficiency, but showed pronounced limitations in homogeneity, demonstrating the need for the increased degrees of freedom made possible through single- and multispoke RF pulse design. CONCLUSION The first in-vivo human imaging was successfully performed at 10.5T using previously developed RF management strategies. Further improvement in RF coils, transmit chain, and full integration of parallel transmit functionality are needed to fully realize the benefits of 10.5T.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaoxuan He
- Center for Magnetic Resonance Research, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota
| | - M Arcan Ertürk
- Center for Magnetic Resonance Research, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota
| | - Andrea Grant
- Center for Magnetic Resonance Research, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota
| | - Xiaoping Wu
- Center for Magnetic Resonance Research, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota
| | - Russell L Lagore
- Center for Magnetic Resonance Research, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota
| | - Lance DelaBarre
- Center for Magnetic Resonance Research, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota
| | - Yiğitcan Eryaman
- Center for Magnetic Resonance Research, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota
| | - Gregor Adriany
- Center for Magnetic Resonance Research, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota
| | - Eddie J Auerbach
- Center for Magnetic Resonance Research, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota
| | | | - Kâmil Uğurbil
- Center for Magnetic Resonance Research, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota
| | - Gregory J Metzger
- Center for Magnetic Resonance Research, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota
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9
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Saib G, Gras V, Mauconduit F, Boulant N, Vignaud A, Brugières P, Le Bihan D, Le Brusquet L, Amadon A. Time-of-flight angiography at 7T using TONE double spokes with parallel transmission. Magn Reson Imaging 2019; 61:104-115. [DOI: 10.1016/j.mri.2019.05.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/18/2019] [Revised: 04/23/2019] [Accepted: 05/14/2019] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
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10
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Ehses P, Brenner D, Stirnberg R, Pracht ED, Stöcker T. Whole‐brain B
1
‐mapping using three‐dimensional DREAM. Magn Reson Med 2019; 82:924-934. [DOI: 10.1002/mrm.27773] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/29/2018] [Revised: 02/22/2019] [Accepted: 03/24/2019] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Philipp Ehses
- German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE)Bonn Germany
| | - Daniel Brenner
- German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE)Bonn Germany
| | | | | | - Tony Stöcker
- German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE)Bonn Germany
- Department of Physics and Astronomy University of Bonn Bonn Germany
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11
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Garwood M, Uğurbil K. RF pulse methods for use with surface coils: Frequency-modulated pulses and parallel transmission. JOURNAL OF MAGNETIC RESONANCE (SAN DIEGO, CALIF. : 1997) 2018; 291:84-93. [PMID: 29705035 PMCID: PMC5943143 DOI: 10.1016/j.jmr.2018.01.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/02/2018] [Accepted: 01/24/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
The first use of a surface coil to obtain a 31P NMR spectrum from an intact rat by Ackerman and colleagues initiated a revolution in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and spectroscopy (MRS). Today, we take it for granted that one can detect signals in regions external to an RF coil; at the time, however, this concept was most unusual. In the approximately four decade long period since its introduction, this simple idea gave birth to an increasing number of innovations that has led to transformative changes in the way we collect data in an in vivo magnetic resonance experiment, particularly with MRI of humans. These innovations include spatial localization and/or encoding based on the non-uniform B1 field generated by the surface coil, leading to new spectroscopic localization methods, image acceleration, and unique RF pulses that deal with B1 inhomogeneities and even reduce power deposition. Without the surface coil, many of the major technological advances that define the extraordinary success of MRI in clinical diagnosis and in biomedical research, as exemplified by projects like the Human Connectome Project, would not have been possible.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael Garwood
- Center for Magnetic Resonance Research and Department of Radiology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455 USA.
| | - Kamil Uğurbil
- Center for Magnetic Resonance Research and Department of Radiology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455 USA
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12
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Phase matched RF pulse design for imaging a reduced field of excitation with a fast TSE acquisition. Magn Reson Imaging 2018; 51:128-136. [PMID: 29747015 DOI: 10.1016/j.mri.2018.05.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/16/2018] [Revised: 05/05/2018] [Accepted: 05/05/2018] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
A method is described to design parallel transmit (PTX) excitation pulses that are compatible with turbo spin echo (TSE) sequences, based on information available from conventional per-channel B1+ mapping. The excitation phase of PTX pulses that generate a reduced field of excitation (rFOX) is matched to the phase the quadrature mode of a PTX coil. This enables TSE imaging of a PTX-enabled rFOX excitation combined with standard nonselective refocusing pulses transmitted in the quadrature mode. In-vivo imaging experiments were performed at 7T using a dual channel parallel transmit head coil. In combination with simulations, the CPMG-required excitation phase was confirmed in TSE sequences with refocusing pulses of variable flip angle. Further experiments showed that the same rFOX was generated in TSE and gradient echo sequences, enabling high-resolution imaging with parallel imaging acceleration of the rFOX.
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13
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Budinger TF, Bird MD. MRI and MRS of the human brain at magnetic fields of 14 T to 20 T: Technical feasibility, safety, and neuroscience horizons. Neuroimage 2018; 168:509-531. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2017.01.067] [Citation(s) in RCA: 52] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/09/2016] [Revised: 01/23/2017] [Accepted: 01/27/2017] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
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14
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Advances in MR angiography with 7T MRI: From microvascular imaging to functional angiography. Neuroimage 2018; 168:269-278. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2017.01.019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/29/2016] [Revised: 01/03/2017] [Accepted: 01/09/2017] [Indexed: 01/15/2023] Open
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15
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Stockmann JP, Wald LL. In vivo B 0 field shimming methods for MRI at 7T. Neuroimage 2018; 168:71-87. [PMID: 28602943 PMCID: PMC5760477 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2017.06.013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 85] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/28/2016] [Revised: 05/19/2017] [Accepted: 06/06/2017] [Indexed: 01/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Functional MRI (fMRI) at 7T and above provides improved Signal-to-Noise Ratio and Contrast-to-Noise Ratio compared to 3T acquisitions. In addition to the beneficial effects on spin polarization and magnetization of deoxyhemoglobin, the increased applied field also further magnetizes air and tissue. While the magnets themselves typically provide a static B0 field with sufficient spatial homogeneity, the diamagnetism of tissue and the paramagnetism of air causes local field deviations inside the human head. These spatially-varying field offsets (ΔB0) cause image artifacts, especially in single shot EPI, including geometric distortion, signal dropout, and blurring. These effects are particularly strong near air-tissue interfaces such as the frontal sinus, and ear canals. Furthermore, if the field offsets are dynamically modulated through physiological processes such as respiration or motion, then the effect on the image time-series can be even more problematic. While post-processing methods have been developed to mitigate these effects, the ideal solution would be to reduce the ΔB0 variations at their source. Typically 7T scanners contain 2nd and some 3rd order spherical harmonic shim coil terms to cancel static ΔB0 variations of low spatial order. In this article, we will motivate the need for improved, higher-order compensation for B0 inhomogeneity and potentially add dynamic control of these fields. We discuss and compare several promising hardware approaches for static and dynamic B0 shimming using either higher-order spherical harmonic shim coils or multi-coil shim arrays as well as passive shimming approaches, and active variants such and adaptive current networks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jason P Stockmann
- A. A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA 02129, United States.
| | - Lawrence L Wald
- A. A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA 02129, United States; Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
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Uğurbil K. Imaging at ultrahigh magnetic fields: History, challenges, and solutions. Neuroimage 2018; 168:7-32. [PMID: 28698108 PMCID: PMC5758441 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2017.07.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 86] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/12/2016] [Revised: 07/05/2017] [Accepted: 07/07/2017] [Indexed: 01/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Following early efforts in applying nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to study biological processes in intact systems, and particularly since the introduction of 4 T human scanners circa 1990, rapid progress was made in imaging and spectroscopy studies of humans at 4 T and animal models at 9.4 T, leading to the introduction of 7 T and higher magnetic fields for human investigation at about the turn of the century. Work conducted on these platforms has provided numerous technological solutions to challenges posed at these ultrahigh fields, and demonstrated the existence of significant advantages in signal-to-noise ratio and biological information content. Primary difference from lower fields is the deviation from the near field regime at the radiofrequencies (RF) corresponding to hydrogen resonance conditions. At such ultrahigh fields, the RF is characterized by attenuated traveling waves in the human body, which leads to image non-uniformities for a given sample-coil configuration because of destructive and constructive interferences. These non-uniformities were initially considered detrimental to progress of imaging at high field strengths. However, they are advantageous for parallel imaging in signal reception and transmission, two critical technologies that account, to a large extend, for the success of ultrahigh fields. With these technologies and improvements in instrumentation and imaging methods, today ultrahigh fields have provided unprecedented gains in imaging of brain function and anatomy, and started to make inroads into investigation of the human torso and extremities. As extensive as they are, these gains still constitute a prelude to what is to come given the increasingly larger effort committed to ultrahigh field research and development of ever better instrumentation and techniques.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kamil Uğurbil
- Center for Magnetic Resonance Research (CMRR), University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA.
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Grissom WA, Setsompop K, Hurley SA, Tsao J, Velikina JV, Samsonov AA. Advancing RF pulse design using an open-competition format: Report from the 2015 ISMRM challenge. Magn Reson Med 2017; 78:1352-1361. [PMID: 27790754 PMCID: PMC5408273 DOI: 10.1002/mrm.26512] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/22/2016] [Revised: 09/26/2016] [Accepted: 09/27/2016] [Indexed: 02/03/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE To advance the best solutions to two important RF pulse design problems with an open head-to-head competition. METHODS Two sub-challenges were formulated in which contestants competed to design the shortest simultaneous multislice (SMS) refocusing pulses and slice-selective parallel transmission (pTx) excitation pulses, subject to realistic hardware and safety constraints. Short refocusing pulses are needed for spin echo SMS imaging at high multiband factors, and short slice-selective pTx pulses are needed for multislice imaging in ultra-high field MRI. Each sub-challenge comprised two phases, in which the first phase posed problems with a low barrier of entry, and the second phase encouraged solutions that performed well in general. The Challenge ran from October 2015 to May 2016. RESULTS The pTx Challenge winners developed a spokes pulse design method that combined variable-rate selective excitation with an efficient method to enforce SAR constraints, which achieved 10.6 times shorter pulse durations than conventional approaches. The SMS Challenge winners developed a time-optimal control multiband pulse design algorithm that achieved 5.1 times shorter pulse durations than conventional approaches. CONCLUSION The Challenge led to rapid step improvements in solutions to significant problems in RF excitation for SMS imaging and ultra-high field MRI. Magn Reson Med 78:1352-1361, 2017. © 2016 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.
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Affiliation(s)
- William A. Grissom
- Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
| | - Kawin Setsompop
- Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
| | | | | | - Julia V. Velikina
- Department of Medical Physics, University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA
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18
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Hsu YC, Lattanzi R, Chu YH, Cloos MA, Sodickson DK, Lin FH. Mitigation of B1+ inhomogeneity using spatially selective excitation with jointly designed quadratic spatial encoding magnetic fields and RF shimming. Magn Reson Med 2017; 78:577-587. [PMID: 27696518 PMCID: PMC5538365 DOI: 10.1002/mrm.26397] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/15/2016] [Revised: 08/05/2016] [Accepted: 08/06/2016] [Indexed: 11/05/2022]
Abstract
PURPOSE The inhomogeneity of flip angle distribution is a major challenge impeding the application of high-field MRI. We report a method combining spatially selective excitation using generalized spatial encoding magnetic fields (SAGS) with radiofrequency (RF) shimming to achieve homogeneous excitation. This method can be an alternative approach to address the challenge of B1+ inhomogeneity using nonlinear gradients. METHODS We proposed a two-step algorithm that jointly optimizes the combination of nonlinear spatial encoding magnetic fields and the combination of multiple RF transmitter coils and then optimizes the locations, RF amplitudes, and phases of the spokes. RESULTS Our results show that jointly designed SAGS and RF shimming can provide a more homogeneous flip angle distribution than using SAGS or RF shimming alone. Compared with RF shimming alone, our approach can reduce the relative standard deviation of flip angle by 56% and 52% using phantom and human head data, respectively. CONCLUSION The jointly designed SAGS and RF shimming method can be used to achieve homogeneous flip angle distributions when fully parallel RF transmission is not available. Magn Reson Med 78:577-587, 2017. © 2016 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yi-Cheng Hsu
- Institute of Biomedical Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Riccardo Lattanzi
- Center for Advanced Imaging Innovation and Research (CAIR) and Bernard and Irene Schwartz Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, New York University School of Medicine, 660 1 Ave. New York, NY 10016 USA
| | - Ying-Hua Chu
- Institute of Biomedical Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Martijn A. Cloos
- Center for Advanced Imaging Innovation and Research (CAIR) and Bernard and Irene Schwartz Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, New York University School of Medicine, 660 1 Ave. New York, NY 10016 USA
| | - Daniel K. Sodickson
- Center for Advanced Imaging Innovation and Research (CAIR) and Bernard and Irene Schwartz Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, New York University School of Medicine, 660 1 Ave. New York, NY 10016 USA
| | - Fa-Hsuan Lin
- Institute of Biomedical Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
- Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering, Aalto University School of Science, Espoo, Finland
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19
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Xin L, Tkáč I. A practical guide to in vivo proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy at high magnetic fields. Anal Biochem 2016; 529:30-39. [PMID: 27773654 DOI: 10.1016/j.ab.2016.10.019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/13/2016] [Revised: 10/03/2016] [Accepted: 10/19/2016] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
Abstract
Localized proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) is a noninvasive tool for measuring in vivo neurochemical information in animal and human brains. With the increase of magnetic field strength, whereas localized 1H-MRS benefits from higher sensitivity and spectral dispersion, it is challenged by increased spatial inhomogeneity of the B0 and B1 fields, larger chemical shift displacement error, and shortened T2 relaxation times of metabolites. Advanced localized 1H-MRS methodologies developed for high magnetic fields have shown promising results and allow the measurement of neurochemical profiles with up to 19 brain metabolites, including less-abundant metabolites, such as glutathione, glycine, γ-aminobutyric acid and ascorbate. To provide a practical guide for conducting in vivo1H-MRS studies at high magnetic field strength, we reviewed various essential technical aspects from data acquisition (hardware requirements, B1 and B0 inhomogeneity, water suppression, localization sequences and acquisition strategies) to data processing (frequency and phase correction, spectral quality control, spectral fitting and concentration referencing). Additionally, we proposed guidelines for choosing the most appropriate data acquisition and processing approaches to maximize the achievable neurochemical information.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lijing Xin
- Animal Imaging and Technology Core (AIT), Center for Biomedical Imaging (CIBM), Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
| | - Ivan Tkáč
- Center for Magnetic Resonance Research, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
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20
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Davids M, Schad LR, Wald LL, Guérin B. Fast three-dimensional inner volume excitations using parallel transmission and optimized k-space trajectories. Magn Reson Med 2016; 76:1170-82. [PMID: 26527590 PMCID: PMC4854802 DOI: 10.1002/mrm.26021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/24/2015] [Revised: 09/28/2015] [Accepted: 09/29/2015] [Indexed: 11/05/2022]
Abstract
PURPOSE To design short parallel transmission (pTx) pulses for excitation of arbitrary three-dimensional (3D) magnetization patterns. METHODS We propose a joint optimization of the pTx radiofrequency (RF) and gradient waveforms for excitation of arbitrary 3D magnetization patterns. Our optimization of the gradient waveforms is based on the parameterization of k-space trajectories (3D shells, stack-of-spirals, and cross) using a small number of shape parameters that are well-suited for optimization. The resulting trajectories are smooth and sample k-space efficiently with few turns while using the gradient system at maximum performance. Within each iteration of the k-space trajectory optimization, we solve a small tip angle least-squares RF pulse design problem. Our RF pulse optimization framework was evaluated both in Bloch simulations and experiments on a 7T scanner with eight transmit channels. RESULTS Using an optimized 3D cross (shells) trajectory, we were able to excite a cube shape (brain shape) with 3.4% (6.2%) normalized root-mean-square error in less than 5 ms using eight pTx channels and a clinical gradient system (Gmax = 40 mT/m, Smax = 150 T/m/s). This compared with 4.7% (41.2%) error for the unoptimized 3D cross (shells) trajectory. Incorporation of B0 robustness in the pulse design significantly altered the k-space trajectory solutions. CONCLUSION Our joint gradient and RF optimization approach yields excellent excitation of 3D cube and brain shapes in less than 5 ms, which can be used for reduced field of view imaging and fat suppression in spectroscopy by excitation of the brain only. Magn Reson Med 76:1170-1182, 2016. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mathias Davids
- Computer Assisted Clinical Medicine, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, BW, Germany.
- A. A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, Massachusetts, United States.
| | - Lothar R Schad
- Computer Assisted Clinical Medicine, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Mannheim, BW, Germany
| | - Lawrence L Wald
- A. A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, Massachusetts, United States
- Harvard-MIT, Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
| | - Bastien Guérin
- A. A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, Massachusetts, United States
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
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21
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O'Reilly TPA, Webb AG, Brink WM. Practical improvements in the design of high permittivity pads for dielectric shimming in neuroimaging at 7T. JOURNAL OF MAGNETIC RESONANCE (SAN DIEGO, CALIF. : 1997) 2016; 270:108-114. [PMID: 27434779 DOI: 10.1016/j.jmr.2016.07.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/28/2016] [Revised: 06/15/2016] [Accepted: 07/08/2016] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
Improvements are proposed for practical design and use of high permittivity materials in high field neuroimaging in three different areas: (i) a simple formula to predict the permittivity of tri-component aqueous-based perovskite suspensions with relative permittivities between 110 and 300, (ii) characterization of addition of a hydroxyethyl-cellulose gelling agent to improve the long-term stability and material properties of "dielectric pads", and (iii) investigation of the integration of, for example, headphones into the dielectric pads to increase patient comfort within tightly-fitting receive coil arrays.
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Affiliation(s)
- T P A O'Reilly
- C.J. Gorter Center for High Field MRI, Department of Radiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands
| | - A G Webb
- C.J. Gorter Center for High Field MRI, Department of Radiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands.
| | - W M Brink
- C.J. Gorter Center for High Field MRI, Department of Radiology, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands
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22
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Padormo F, Beqiri A, Hajnal JV, Malik SJ. Parallel transmission for ultrahigh-field imaging. NMR IN BIOMEDICINE 2016; 29:1145-61. [PMID: 25989904 PMCID: PMC4995736 DOI: 10.1002/nbm.3313] [Citation(s) in RCA: 124] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/29/2014] [Revised: 03/27/2015] [Accepted: 03/29/2015] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
Abstract
The development of MRI systems operating at or above 7 T has provided researchers with a new window into the human body, yielding improved imaging speed, resolution and signal-to-noise ratio. In order to fully realise the potential of ultrahigh-field MRI, a range of technical hurdles must be overcome. The non-uniformity of the transmit field is one of such issues, as it leads to non-uniform images with spatially varying contrast. Parallel transmission (i.e. the use of multiple independent transmission channels) provides previously unavailable degrees of freedom that allow full spatial and temporal control of the radiofrequency (RF) fields. This review discusses the many ways in which these degrees of freedom can be used, ranging from making more uniform transmit fields to the design of subject-tailored RF pulses for both uniform excitation and spatial selection, and also the control of the specific absorption rate. © 2015 The Authors. NMR in Biomedicine published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francesco Padormo
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Division of Imaging Sciences and Biomedical Engineering, King's College London, King's Health Partners, St Thomas' Hospital, London, UK
| | - Arian Beqiri
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Division of Imaging Sciences and Biomedical Engineering, King's College London, King's Health Partners, St Thomas' Hospital, London, UK
| | - Joseph V Hajnal
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Division of Imaging Sciences and Biomedical Engineering, King's College London, King's Health Partners, St Thomas' Hospital, London, UK
- Centre for the Developing Brain, Division of Imaging Sciences and Biomedical Engineering, King's College London, King's Health Partners, St Thomas' Hospital, London, UK
| | - Shaihan J Malik
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Division of Imaging Sciences and Biomedical Engineering, King's College London, King's Health Partners, St Thomas' Hospital, London, UK
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23
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Guérin B, Stockmann JP, Baboli M, Torrado-Carvajal A, Stenger AV, Wald LL. Robust time-shifted spoke pulse design in the presence of large B0 variations with simultaneous reduction of through-plane dephasing, B1+ effects, and the specific absorption rate using parallel transmission. Magn Reson Med 2016; 76:540-54. [PMID: 26444717 PMCID: PMC4824674 DOI: 10.1002/mrm.25902] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/17/2015] [Revised: 07/29/2015] [Accepted: 07/30/2015] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
PURPOSE To design parallel transmission spokes pulses with time-shifted profiles for joint mitigation of intensity variations due to B1+ effects, signal loss due to through-plane dephasing, and the specific absorption rate (SAR) at 7T. METHODS We derived a slice-averaged small tip angle (SA-STA) approximation of the magnetization signal at echo time that depends on the B1+ transmit profiles, the through-slice B0 gradient and the amplitude and time-shifts of the spoke waveforms. We minimize a magnitude least-squares objective based on this signal equation using a fast interior-point approach with analytical expressions of the Jacobian and Hessian. RESULTS Our algorithm runs in less than three minutes for the design of two-spoke pulses subject to hundreds of local SAR constraints. On a B0/B1+ head phantom, joint optimization of the channel-dependent time-shifts and spoke amplitudes allowed signal recovery in high-B0 regions at no increase of SAR. Although the method creates uniform magnetization profiles (ie, uniform intensity), the flip angle varies across the image, which makes it ill-suited to T1-weighted applications. CONCLUSIONS The SA-STA approach presented in this study is best suited to T2*-weighted applications with long echo times that require signal recovery around high B0 regions. Magn Reson Med 76:540-554, 2016. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bastien Guérin
- Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Jason P Stockmann
- Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, Massachusetts, USA
- Physics Department, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Mehran Baboli
- John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
| | - Angel Torrado-Carvajal
- Medical Image Analysis and Biometry Laboratory, University Rey Juan Carlos, Mostoles Spain
- Madrid-MIT M+ Vision Consortium, Madrid, Spain
| | - Andrew V Stenger
- John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
| | - Lawrence L Wald
- Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, Massachusetts, USA
- Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
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24
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Budinger TF, Bird MD, Frydman L, Long JR, Mareci TH, Rooney WD, Rosen B, Schenck JF, Schepkin VD, Sherry AD, Sodickson DK, Springer CS, Thulborn KR, Uğurbil K, Wald LL. Toward 20 T magnetic resonance for human brain studies: opportunities for discovery and neuroscience rationale. MAGMA (NEW YORK, N.Y.) 2016; 29:617-39. [PMID: 27194154 PMCID: PMC5538368 DOI: 10.1007/s10334-016-0561-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/06/2016] [Revised: 04/06/2016] [Accepted: 04/11/2016] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
An initiative to design and build magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and spectroscopy (MRS) instruments at 14 T and beyond to 20 T has been underway since 2012. This initiative has been supported by 22 interested participants from the USA and Europe, of which 15 are authors of this review. Advances in high temperature superconductor materials, advances in cryocooling engineering, prospects for non-persistent mode stable magnets, and experiences gained from large-bore, high-field magnet engineering for the nuclear fusion endeavors support the feasibility of a human brain MRI and MRS system with 1 ppm homogeneity over at least a 16-cm diameter volume and a bore size of 68 cm. Twelve neuroscience opportunities are presented as well as an analysis of the biophysical and physiological effects to be investigated before exposing human subjects to the high fields of 14 T and beyond.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas F Budinger
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA.
| | - Mark D Bird
- National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA
| | - Lucio Frydman
- National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA
- Weizmann Institute, Rehovot, Israel
| | - Joanna R Long
- McKnight Brain Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
| | - Thomas H Mareci
- McKnight Brain Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
| | | | - Bruce Rosen
- Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Harvard, MA, USA
| | - John F Schenck
- General Electric Corporate Research, Schenectady, NY, USA
| | - Victor D Schepkin
- National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA
| | - A Dean Sherry
- University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA
| | | | | | | | | | - Lawrence L Wald
- Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Harvard, MA, USA
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25
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Cao Z, Donahue MJ, Ma J, Grissom WA. Joint design of large-tip-angle parallel RF pulses and blipped gradient trajectories. Magn Reson Med 2016; 75:1198-208. [PMID: 25916408 PMCID: PMC4624053 DOI: 10.1002/mrm.25739] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2014] [Revised: 02/19/2015] [Accepted: 03/24/2015] [Indexed: 01/05/2023]
Abstract
PURPOSE To design multichannel large-tip-angle kT-points and spokes radiofrequency (RF) pulses and gradient waveforms for transmit field inhomogeneity compensation in high field magnetic resonance imaging. THEORY AND METHODS An algorithm to design RF subpulse weights and gradient blip areas is proposed to minimize a magnitude least-squares cost function that measures the difference between realized and desired state parameters in the spin domain, and penalizes integrated RF power. The minimization problem is solved iteratively with interleaved target phase updates, RF subpulse weights updates using the conjugate gradient method with optimal control-based derivatives, and gradient blip area updates using the conjugate gradient method. Two-channel parallel transmit simulations and experiments were conducted in phantoms and human subjects at 7 T to demonstrate the method and compare it to small-tip-angle-designed pulses and circularly polarized excitations. RESULTS The proposed algorithm designed more homogeneous and accurate 180° inversion and refocusing pulses than other methods. It also designed large-tip-angle pulses on multiple frequency bands with independent and joint phase relaxation. Pulses designed by the method improved specificity and contrast-to-noise ratio in a finger-tapping spin echo blood oxygen level dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging study, compared with circularly polarized mode refocusing. CONCLUSION A joint RF and gradient waveform design algorithm was proposed and validated to improve large-tip-angle inversion and refocusing at ultrahigh field.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhipeng Cao
- Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science, Nashville, TN, United States
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States
| | - Manus J Donahue
- Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science, Nashville, TN, United States
- Department of Radiology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States
| | - Jun Ma
- Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science, Nashville, TN, United States
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States
| | - William A. Grissom
- Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science, Nashville, TN, United States
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States
- Department of Radiology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States
- Department of Electrical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, United States
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26
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Fujimoto K, Polimeni JR, van der Kouwe AJW, Reuter M, Kober T, Benner T, Fischl B, Wald LL. Quantitative comparison of cortical surface reconstructions from MP2RAGE and multi-echo MPRAGE data at 3 and 7 T. Neuroimage 2014; 90:60-73. [PMID: 24345388 PMCID: PMC4035370 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.12.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 72] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/18/2013] [Revised: 12/03/2013] [Accepted: 12/04/2013] [Indexed: 10/25/2022] Open
Abstract
The Magnetization-Prepared 2 Rapid Acquisition Gradient Echo (MP2RAGE) method achieves spatially uniform contrast across the entire brain between gray matter and surrounding white matter tissue and cerebrospinal fluid by rapidly acquiring data at two points during an inversion recovery, and then combining the two volumes so as to cancel out sources of intensity and contrast bias, making it useful for neuroimaging studies at ultrahigh field strengths (≥7T). To quantify the effectiveness of the MP2RAGE method for quantitative morphometric neuroimaging, we performed tissue segmentation and cerebral cortical surface reconstruction of the MP2RAGE data and compared the results with those generated from conventional multi-echo MPRAGE (MEMPRAGE) data across a group of healthy subjects. To do so, we developed a preprocessing scheme for the MP2RAGE image data to allow for automatic cortical segmentation and surface reconstruction using FreeSurfer and analysis methods to compare the positioning of the surface meshes. Using image volumes with 1mm isotropic voxels we found a scan-rescan reproducibility of cortical thickness estimates to be 0.15 mm (or 6%) for the MEMPRAGE data and a slightly lower reproducibility of 0.19 mm (or 8%) for the MP2RAGE data. We also found that the thickness estimates were systematically smaller in the MP2RAGE data, and that both the interior and exterior cortical boundaries estimated from the MP2RAGE data were consistently positioned within the corresponding boundaries estimated from the MEMPRAGE data. Therefore several measureable differences exist in the appearance of cortical gray matter and its effect on automatic segmentation methods that must be considered when choosing an acquisition or segmentation method for studies requiring cortical surface reconstructions. We propose potential extensions to the MP2RAGE method that may help to reduce or eliminate these discrepancies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kyoko Fujimoto
- Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, 149 13th Street, Suite 2301, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA
| | - Jonathan R Polimeni
- Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, 149 13th Street, Suite 2301, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA; Department of Radiology, Harvard Medical School, 55 Fruit St, Boston, MA 02114, USA.
| | - André J W van der Kouwe
- Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, 149 13th Street, Suite 2301, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA; Department of Radiology, Harvard Medical School, 55 Fruit St, Boston, MA 02114, USA
| | - Martin Reuter
- Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, 149 13th Street, Suite 2301, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA; Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, 15 Parkman Street, Boston, MA 02114, USA
| | - Tobias Kober
- Laboratory for Functional and Metabolic Imaging, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, EPFL-SB-IPSB-LIFMET, Station 6, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland; Advanced Clinical Imaging Technology, Siemens Suisse SA -CIBM, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Thomas Benner
- Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, 149 13th Street, Suite 2301, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA; Department of Radiology, Harvard Medical School, 55 Fruit St, Boston, MA 02114, USA
| | - Bruce Fischl
- Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, 149 13th Street, Suite 2301, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA; Department of Radiology, Harvard Medical School, 55 Fruit St, Boston, MA 02114, USA; Computer Science and AI Lab (CSAIL), Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
| | - Lawrence L Wald
- Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, 149 13th Street, Suite 2301, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA; Department of Radiology, Harvard Medical School, 55 Fruit St, Boston, MA 02114, USA; Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 45 Carleton Street, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA
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Abstract
Since the introduction of 4 T human systems in three academic laboratories circa 1990, rapid progress in imaging and spectroscopy studies in humans at 4 T and animal model systems at 9.4 T have led to the introduction of 7 T and higher magnetic fields for human investigation at about the turn of the century. Work conducted on these platforms has demonstrated the existence of significant advantages in SNR and biological information content at these ultrahigh fields, as well as the presence of numerous challenges. Primary difference from lower fields is the deviation from the near field regime; at the frequencies corresponding to hydrogen resonance conditions at ultrahigh fields, the RF is characterized by attenuated traveling waves in the human body, which leads to image nonuniformities for a given sample-coil configuration because of interferences. These nonuniformities were considered detrimental to the progress of imaging at high field strengths. However, they are advantageous for parallel imaging for signal reception and parallel transmission, two critical technologies that account, to a large extend, for the success of ultrahigh fields. With these technologies, and improvements in instrumentation and imaging methods, ultrahigh fields have provided unprecedented gains in imaging of brain function and anatomy, and started to make inroads into investigation of the human torso and extremities. As extensive as they are, these gains still constitute a prelude to what is to come given the increasingly larger effort committed to ultrahigh field research and development of ever better instrumentation and techniques.
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Zhao F, Nielsen JF, Noll DC. Four dimensional spectral-spatial fat saturation pulse design. Magn Reson Med 2013; 72:1637-47. [PMID: 24347327 DOI: 10.1002/mrm.25076] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/06/2013] [Revised: 10/26/2013] [Accepted: 11/19/2013] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
PURPOSE The conventional spectrally selective fat saturation pulse may perform poorly with inhomogeneous amplitude of static (polarizing) field (B0 ) and/or amplitude of (excitation) radiofrequency field (B1 ) fields. We propose a four dimensional spectral-spatial fat saturation pulse that is more robust to B0/B1 inhomogeneity and also shorter than the conventional fat saturation pulse. THEORY The proposed pulse is tailored for local B0 inhomogeneity, which avoids the need of a sharp transition band in the spectral domain, so it improves both performance and pulse length. Furthermore, it can also compensate for B1 inhomogeneity. The pulse is designed sequentially by small-tip-angle approximation design and an automatic rescaling procedure. METHODS The proposed method is compared to the conventional fat saturation in phantom experiments and in vivo knee imaging at 3 T for both single-channel and parallel excitation versions. RESULTS Compared to the conventional method, the proposed method produces superior fat suppression in the presence of B0 and B1 inhomogeneity and reduces pulse length by up to half of the standard length. CONCLUSION The proposed four dimensional spectral-spatial fat saturation suppresses fat more robustly with shorter pulse length than the conventional fat saturation in the presence of B0 and B1 inhomogeneity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Feng Zhao
- Biomedical Engineering Department, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
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29
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Schneider R, Haueisen J, Pfeuffer J. Shaped saturation with inherent radiofrequency-power-efficient trajectory design in parallel transmission. Magn Reson Med 2013; 72:1015-27. [PMID: 24408110 DOI: 10.1002/mrm.25016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/23/2013] [Revised: 10/01/2013] [Accepted: 10/07/2013] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
PURPOSE A target-pattern-driven (TD) trajectory design is introduced in combination with parallel transmit (pTX) radiofrequency (RF) pulses to provide localized suppression of unwanted signals. The design incorporates target-pattern and B1+ information to adjust denser sampling and coverage in k-space regions where the main pattern information lies. Based on this approach, two-dimensional RF spiral saturation pulses sensitive to RF power limits were applied in vivo for the first time. THEORY AND METHODS The TD method was compared with two state-of-the-art spiral design methods. Simulations at different spatial fidelities, acceleration factors and anatomical regions were carried out for an eight-channel pTX 3 Tesla (T) coil. Human in vivo experiments were performed on a two-channel pTX 3T scanner saturating shaped patterns in the brain, heart, and thoracic spine. RESULTS Using the TD trajectory, RF pulse power can be substantially reduced by up to 34% compared with other trajectory designs with the same spatial accuracy. Local and global specific absorption rates are decreased in most cases. CONCLUSION The TD trajectory design uses available a priori information to enhance RF power efficiency and spatial response of the RF pulses. Shaped saturation pulses show improved spatial accuracy and saturation performance. Thus, RF pulses can be designed more efficiently and can be further accelerated.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rainer Schneider
- MR Application Development, Siemens Healthcare, Erlangen, Germany; Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Informatics, Ilmenau University of Technology, Ilmenau, Germany
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30
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Uğurbil K, Xu J, Auerbach EJ, Moeller S, Vu AT, Duarte-Carvajalino JM, Lenglet C, Wu X, Schmitter S, Van de Moortele PF, Strupp J, Sapiro G, De Martino F, Wang D, Harel N, Garwood M, Chen L, Feinberg DA, Smith SM, Miller KL, Sotiropoulos SN, Jbabdi S, Andersson JLR, Behrens TEJ, Glasser MF, Van Essen DC, Yacoub E. Pushing spatial and temporal resolution for functional and diffusion MRI in the Human Connectome Project. Neuroimage 2013; 80:80-104. [PMID: 23702417 PMCID: PMC3740184 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.05.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 572] [Impact Index Per Article: 52.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2013] [Revised: 05/05/2013] [Accepted: 05/07/2013] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
The Human Connectome Project (HCP) relies primarily on three complementary magnetic resonance (MR) methods. These are: 1) resting state functional MR imaging (rfMRI) which uses correlations in the temporal fluctuations in an fMRI time series to deduce 'functional connectivity'; 2) diffusion imaging (dMRI), which provides the input for tractography algorithms used for the reconstruction of the complex axonal fiber architecture; and 3) task based fMRI (tfMRI), which is employed to identify functional parcellation in the human brain in order to assist analyses of data obtained with the first two methods. We describe technical improvements and optimization of these methods as well as instrumental choices that impact speed of acquisition of fMRI and dMRI images at 3T, leading to whole brain coverage with 2 mm isotropic resolution in 0.7 s for fMRI, and 1.25 mm isotropic resolution dMRI data for tractography analysis with three-fold reduction in total dMRI data acquisition time. Ongoing technical developments and optimization for acquisition of similar data at 7 T magnetic field are also presented, targeting higher spatial resolution, enhanced specificity of functional imaging signals, mitigation of the inhomogeneous radio frequency (RF) fields, and reduced power deposition. Results demonstrate that overall, these approaches represent a significant advance in MR imaging of the human brain to investigate brain function and structure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kamil Uğurbil
- Center for Magnetic Resonance Research, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
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31
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Eggenschwiler F, O'Brien KR, Gruetter R, Marques JP. Improving T2 -weighted imaging at high field through the use of kT -points. Magn Reson Med 2013; 71:1478-88. [PMID: 23788025 DOI: 10.1002/mrm.24805] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/09/2013] [Revised: 04/16/2013] [Accepted: 04/18/2013] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
Abstract
PURPOSE At high magnetic field strengths (B(0) ≥ 3 T), the shorter radiofrequency wavelength produces an inhomogeneous distribution of the transmit magnetic field. This can lead to variable contrast across the brain which is particularly pronounced in T(2) -weighted imaging that requires multiple radiofrequency pulses. To obtain T(2) -weighted images with uniform contrast throughout the whole brain at 7 T, short (2-3 ms) 3D tailored radiofrequency pulses (kT -points) were integrated into a 3D variable flip angle turbo spin echo sequence. METHODS The excitation and refocusing "hard" pulses of a variable flip angle turbo spin echo sequence were replaced with kT -point pulses. Spatially resolved extended phase graph simulations and in vivo acquisitions at 7 T, utilizing both single channel and parallel-transmit systems, were used to test different kT -point configurations. RESULTS Simulations indicated that an extended optimized k-space trajectory ensured a more homogeneous signal throughout images. In vivo experiments showed that high quality T(2) -weighted brain images with uniform signal and contrast were obtained at 7 T by using the proposed methodology. CONCLUSION This work demonstrates that T(2) -weighted images devoid of artifacts resulting from B(1)(+) inhomogeneity can be obtained at high field through the optimization of extended kT -point pulses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Florent Eggenschwiler
- Laboratory for Functional and Metabolic Imaging, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
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32
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Grissom WA, Khalighi MM, Sacolick LI, Rutt BK, Vogel MW. Small-tip-angle spokes pulse design using interleaved greedy and local optimization methods. Magn Reson Med 2012; 68:1553-62. [PMID: 22392822 PMCID: PMC3703849 DOI: 10.1002/mrm.24165] [Citation(s) in RCA: 61] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/24/2011] [Revised: 12/07/2011] [Accepted: 01/03/2012] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Abstract
Current spokes pulse design methods can be grouped into methods based either on sparse approximation or on iterative local (gradient descent-based) optimization of the transverse-plane spatial frequency locations visited by the spokes. These two classes of methods have complementary strengths and weaknesses: sparse approximation-based methods perform an efficient search over a large swath of candidate spatial frequency locations but most are incompatible with off-resonance compensation, multifrequency designs, and target phase relaxation, while local methods can accommodate off-resonance and target phase relaxation but are sensitive to initialization and suboptimal local cost function minima. This article introduces a method that interleaves local iterations, which optimize the radiofrequency pulses, target phase patterns, and spatial frequency locations, with a greedy method to choose new locations. Simulations and experiments at 3 and 7 T show that the method consistently produces single- and multifrequency spokes pulses with lower flip angle inhomogeneity compared to current methods.
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33
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Lee J, Gebhardt M, Wald LL, Adalsteinsson E. Local SAR in parallel transmission pulse design. Magn Reson Med 2012; 67:1566-78. [PMID: 22083594 PMCID: PMC3291736 DOI: 10.1002/mrm.23140] [Citation(s) in RCA: 66] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/18/2011] [Revised: 06/13/2011] [Accepted: 07/16/2011] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
The management of local and global power deposition in human subjects (specific absorption rate, SAR) is a fundamental constraint to the application of parallel transmission (pTx) systems. Even though the pTx and single channel have to meet the same SAR requirements, the complex behavior of the spatial distribution of local SAR for transmission arrays poses problems that are not encountered in conventional single-channel systems and places additional requirements on pTx radio frequency pulse design. We propose a pTx pulse design method which builds on recent work to capture the spatial distribution of local SAR in numerical tissue models in a compressed parameterization in order to incorporate local SAR constraints within computation times that accommodate pTx pulse design during an in vivo magnetic resonance imaging scan. Additionally, the algorithm yields a protocol-specific ultimate peak in local SAR, which is shown to bound the achievable peak local SAR for a given excitation profile fidelity. The performance of the approach was demonstrated using a numerical human head model and a 7 Tesla eight-channel transmit array. The method reduced peak local 10 g SAR by 14-66% for slice-selective pTx excitations and 2D selective pTx excitations compared to a pTx pulse design constrained only by global SAR. The primary tradeoff incurred for reducing peak local SAR was an increase in global SAR, up to 34% for the evaluated examples, which is favorable in cases where local SAR constraints dominate the pulse applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joonsung Lee
- Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.
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34
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Cloos MA, Boulant N, Luong M, Ferrand G, Giacomini E, Hang MF, Wiggins CJ, Le Bihan D, Amadon A. Parallel-transmission-enabled magnetization-prepared rapid gradient-echo T1-weighted imaging of the human brain at 7 T. Neuroimage 2012; 62:2140-50. [PMID: 22659484 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2012.05.068] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2011] [Revised: 04/20/2012] [Accepted: 05/24/2012] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
One of the promises of Ultra High Field (UHF) MRI scanners is to bring finer spatial resolution in the human brain images due to an increased signal to noise ratio. However, at such field strengths, the spatial non-uniformity of the Radio Frequency (RF) transmit profiles challenges the applicability of most MRI sequences, where the signal and contrast levels strongly depend on the flip angle (FA) homogeneity. In particular, the MP-RAGE sequence, one of the most commonly employed 3D sequences to obtain T1-weighted anatomical images of the brain, is highly sensitive to these spatial variations. These cause deterioration in image quality and complicate subsequent image post-processing such as automated tissue segmentation at UHF. In this work, we evaluate the potential of parallel-transmission (pTx) to obtain high-quality MP-RAGE images of the human brain at 7 T. To this end, non-selective transmit-SENSE pulses were individually tailored for each of 8 subjects under study, and applied to an 8-channel transmit-array. Such RF pulses were designed both for the low-FA excitation train and the 180° inversion preparation involved in the sequence, both utilizing the recently introduced k(T)-point trajectory. The resulting images were compared with those obtained from the conventional method and from subject-specific RF-shimmed excitations. In addition, four of the volunteers were scanned at 3 T for benchmarking purposes (clinical setup without pTx). Subsequently, automated tissue classification was performed to provide a more quantitative measure of the final image quality. Results indicated that pTx could already significantly improve image quality at 7 T by adopting a suitable RF-Shim. Exploiting the full potential of the pTx-setup, the proposed k(T)-point method provided excellent inversion fidelity, comparable to what is commonly only achievable at 3 T with energy intensive adiabatic pulses. Furthermore, the cumulative energy deposition was simultaneously reduced by over 40% compared to the conventional adiabatic inversions. Regarding the low-FA k(T)-point based excitations, the FA uniformity achieved at 7 T surpassed what is typically obtained at 3 T. Subsequently, automated white and gray matter segmentation not only confirmed the expected improvements in image quality, but also suggests that care should be taken to properly account for the strong local susceptibility effects near cranial cavities. Overall, these findings indicate that the k(T)-point-based pTx solution is an excellent candidate for UHF 3D imaging, where patient safety is a major concern due to the increase of specific absorption rates.
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Affiliation(s)
- M A Cloos
- CEA, DSV, I2BM, NeuroSpin, LRMN, Gif-sur-Yvette, France.
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35
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The road to functional imaging and ultrahigh fields. Neuroimage 2012; 62:726-35. [PMID: 22333670 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2012.01.134] [Citation(s) in RCA: 56] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2011] [Revised: 01/24/2012] [Accepted: 01/30/2012] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
The Center for Magnetic Resonance (CMRR) at the University of Minnesota was one of the laboratories where the work that simultaneously and independently introduced functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) of human brain activity was carried out. However, unlike other laboratories pursuing fMRI at the time, our work was performed at 4T magnetic field and coincided with the effort to push human magnetic resonance imaging to field strength significantly beyond 1.5T which was the high-end standard of the time. The human fMRI experiments performed in CMRR were planned between two colleagues who had known each other and had worked together previously in Bell Laboratories, namely Seiji Ogawa and myself, immediately after the Blood Oxygenation Level Dependent (BOLD) contrast was developed by Seiji. We were waiting for our first human system, a 4T system, to arrive in order to attempt at imaging brain activity in the human brain and these were the first experiments we performed on the 4T instrument in CMRR when it became marginally operational. This was a prelude to a subsequent systematic push we initiated for exploiting higher magnetic fields to improve the accuracy and sensitivity of fMRI maps, first going to 9.4T for animal model studies and subsequently developing a 7T human system for the first time. Steady improvements in high field instrumentation and ever expanding armamentarium of image acquisition and engineering solutions to challenges posed by ultrahigh fields have brought fMRI to submillimeter resolution in the whole brain at 7T, the scale necessary to reach cortical columns and laminar differentiation in the whole brain. The solutions that emerged in response to technological challenges posed by 7T also propagated and continues to propagate to lower field clinical systems, a major advantage of the ultrahigh fields effort that is underappreciated. Further improvements at 7T are inevitable. Further translation of these improvements to lower field clinical systems to achieve new capabilities and to magnetic fields significantly higher than 7T to enable human imaging is inescapable.
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36
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Lee D, Grissom WA, Lustig M, Kerr AB, Stang PP, Pauly JM. VERSE-guided numerical RF pulse design: a fast method for peak RF power control. Magn Reson Med 2012; 67:353-62. [PMID: 22135085 PMCID: PMC3644517 DOI: 10.1002/mrm.23010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2010] [Revised: 04/09/2011] [Accepted: 04/27/2011] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
In parallel excitation, the computational speed of numerical radiofrequency (RF) pulse design methods is critical when subject dependencies and system nonidealities need to be incorporated on-the-fly. One important concern with optimization-based methods is high peak RF power exceeding hardware or safety limits. Hence, online controllability of the peak RF power is essential. Variable-rate selective excitation pulse reshaping is ideally suited to this problem due to its simplicity and low computational cost. In this work, we first improve the fidelity of variable-rate selective excitation implementation for discrete-time waveforms through waveform oversampling such that variable-rate selective excitation can be robustly applied to numerically designed RF pulses. Then, a variable-rate selective excitation-guided numerical RF pulse design is suggested as an online RF pulse design framework, aiming to simultaneously control peak RF power and compensate for off-resonance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daeho Lee
- Department of Electrical Engineering, Magnetic Resonance Systems Research Laboratory, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA.
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37
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Sbrizzi A, Hoogduin H, Lagendijk JJ, Luijten P, Sleijpen GLG, van den Berg CAT. Fast design of local N-gram-specific absorption rate-optimized radiofrequency pulses for parallel transmit systems. Magn Reson Med 2011; 67:824-34. [PMID: 22127650 DOI: 10.1002/mrm.23049] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/24/2010] [Revised: 05/03/2011] [Accepted: 05/19/2011] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
Designing multidimensional radiofrequency pulses for clinical application must take into account the local specific absorption rate (SAR) as controlling the global SAR does not guarantee suppression of hot spots. The maximum peak SAR, averaged over an N grams cube (local NgSAR), must be kept under certain safety limits. Computing the SAR over a three-dimensional domain can require several minutes and implementing this computation in a radiofrequency pulse design algorithm could slow down prohibitively the numerical process. In this article, a fast optimization algorithm is designed acting on a limited number of control points, which are strategically selected locations from the entire domain. The selection is performed by comparing the largest eigenvalues and the corresponding eigenvectors of the matrices which locally describe the tissue's amount of heating. The computation complexity is dramatically reduced. An additional critical step to accelerate the computations is to apply a multi shift conjugate gradient algorithm. Two transmit array setups are studied: a two channel 3 T birdcage body coil and a 12-channel 7 T transverse electromagnetic (TEM) head coil. In comparison with minimum power radiofrequency pulses, it is shown that a reduction of 36.5% and 35%, respectively, in the local NgSAR can be achieved within short, clinically feasible, computation times.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alessandro Sbrizzi
- Imaging Division, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
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Malik SJ, Keihaninejad S, Hammers A, Hajnal JV. Tailored excitation in 3D with spiral nonselective (SPINS) RF pulses. Magn Reson Med 2011; 67:1303-15. [DOI: 10.1002/mrm.23118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 54] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2011] [Revised: 06/13/2011] [Accepted: 06/30/2011] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
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Snaar JEM, Teeuwisse WM, Versluis MJ, van Buchem MA, Kan HE, Smith NB, Webb AG. Improvements in high-field localized MRS of the medial temporal lobe in humans using new deformable high-dielectric materials. NMR IN BIOMEDICINE 2011; 24:873-879. [PMID: 21834010 DOI: 10.1002/nbm.1638] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/27/2010] [Revised: 09/10/2010] [Accepted: 10/08/2010] [Indexed: 05/31/2023]
Abstract
The intrinsic nonuniformities in the transmit radiofrequency field from standard quadrature volume resonators at high field are particularly problematic for localized MRS in areas such as the temporal lobe, where a low signal-to-noise ratio and poor metabolite quantification result from destructive B₁⁺ field interference, in addition to line broadening and signal loss from strong susceptibility gradients. MRS of the temporal lobe has been performed in a number of neurodegenerative diseases at clinical fields, but a relatively low signal-to-noise ratio has prevented the reliable quantification of, for example, glutamate and glutamine, which are thought to play a key role in disease progression. Using a recently developed high-dielectric-constant material placed around the head, localized MRS of the medial temporal lobe using the stimulated echo acquisition mode sequence was acquired at 7 T. The presence of the material increased the signal-to-noise ratio of MRS by a factor of two without significantly reducing the sensitivity in other areas of the brain, as shown by the measured B₁⁺ maps. An increase in the receive sensitivity B₁⁻ was also measured close to the pads. The spectral linewidth of the unsuppressed water peak within the voxel of interest was reduced slightly by the introduction of the dielectric pads (although not to a statistically significant degree), a result confirmed by using a pad composed of lipid. Using LCmodel for quantitative analysis of metabolite concentrations, the increase in signal-to-noise ratio and the slight decrease in spectral linewidth contributed to statistically significant reductions in the Cramer-Rao lower bounds (CRLBs), also allowing the levels of glutamate and glutamine to be quantified with CRLBs below 20%.
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Affiliation(s)
- J E M Snaar
- C. J. Gorter Center for High Field MRI, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands
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40
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Snyder J, Haas M, Hennig J, Zaitsev M. Selective excitation of two-dimensional arbitrarily shaped voxels with parallel excitation in spectroscopy. Magn Reson Med 2011; 67:300-9. [DOI: 10.1002/mrm.23018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/10/2010] [Revised: 04/29/2011] [Accepted: 05/01/2011] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
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Cloos MA, Luong M, Ferrand G, Amadon A, Le Bihan D, Boulant N. Local SAR reduction in parallel excitation based on channel-dependent Tikhonov parameters. J Magn Reson Imaging 2011; 32:1209-16. [PMID: 21031527 DOI: 10.1002/jmri.22346] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
PURPOSE To reduce the local specific absorption rate (SAR) obtained with tailored pulses using parallel transmission while obtaining homogenous flip angle distributions. MATERIALS AND METHODS Finite-element simulations on a human head model were performed to obtain the individual magnetic and electric field maps for each channel of a parallel transmit array. From those maps, SAR calculations were carried out for "spoke" pulses designed to homogenize the flip angle in an axial slice of a human brain at 7 T. Based on the assumption that the coil element nearest to the maximum local energy deposition is the dominant contributor to the corresponding hot spot, a set of channel-dependent Tikhonov parameters is optimized. Resulting SAR distributions are compared to the ones obtained when using standard pulse design approaches based on a single Tikhonov parameter. RESULTS In both the small- and large-tip-angle domain, the simulations show local SAR reductions by over a factor of 2 (4) for a well-centered (off-centered) head model at the expense of roughly 1% increment in flip-angle spread over the slice. CONCLUSION Significant SAR reductions can be obtained by optimizing channel-dependent Tikhonov parameters based on the relation between coil elements and SAR hot spot positions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martijn Anton Cloos
- Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique, Direction des Sciences du Vivant, Institut d'Imagerie Biomédicale, NeuroSpin, Laboratoire de Résonance Magnétique Nucléaire, Gif-sur-Yvette, France.
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Deng W, Yang C, Stenger VA. Accelerated multidimensional radiofrequency pulse design for parallel transmission using concurrent computation on multiple graphics processing units. Magn Reson Med 2011; 65:363-9. [PMID: 21264929 PMCID: PMC3069537 DOI: 10.1002/mrm.22690] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/15/2010] [Revised: 07/09/2010] [Accepted: 09/24/2010] [Indexed: 01/30/2023]
Abstract
Multidimensional radiofrequency (RF) pulses are of current interest because of their promise for improving high-field imaging and for optimizing parallel transmission methods. One major drawback is that the computation time of numerically designed multidimensional RF pulses increases rapidly with their resolution and number of transmitters. This is critical because the construction of multidimensional RF pulses often needs to be in real time. The use of graphics processing units for computations is a recent approach for accelerating image reconstruction applications. We propose the use of graphics processing units for the design of multidimensional RF pulses including the utilization of parallel transmitters. Using a desktop computer with four NVIDIA Tesla C1060 computing processors, we found acceleration factors on the order of 20 for standard eight-transmitter two-dimensional spiral RF pulses with a 64 × 64 excitation resolution and a 10-μsec dwell time. We also show that even greater acceleration factors can be achieved for more complex RF pulses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Weiran Deng
- Department of Medicine, John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA.
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Yang C, Deng W, Stenger VA. Simple analytical dual-band spectral-spatial RF pulses for B(1) + and susceptibility artifact reduction in gradient echo MRI. Magn Reson Med 2011; 65:370-6. [PMID: 21264930 PMCID: PMC3065027 DOI: 10.1002/mrm.22725] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/21/2010] [Revised: 10/14/2010] [Accepted: 10/17/2010] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Susceptibility artifacts and transmission radio frequency (RF) field (B(1) +) inhomogeneity are major limitations in high-field gradient echo MRI. Previously proposed numerical 2D spectral-spatial RF pulses have been shown to be promising for reducing the through-plane signal loss susceptibility artifact by incorporating a frequency-dependent through-plane phase correction. This method has recently been extended to 4D spectral-spatial RF pulse designs for reducing B(1) + inhomogeneity as well as the signal loss. In this manuscript, we present simple analytical pulse designs for constructing 2D and 4D spectral-spatial RF pulses as an alternative to the numerical approaches. The 2D pulse capable of exciting slices with reduced signal loss and is lipid suppressing. The 4D pulse simultaneously corrects signal loss as well as the B(1) + inhomogeneity from a body coil transmitter. The pulses are demonstrated with simulations and with gradient echo phantom and brain images at 3T using a standard RF body coil. The pulses were observed to work well for multiple slices and several volunteers.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - V. Andrew Stenger
- Department of Medicine, University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine, Honolulu, Hawaii
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44
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Grissom WA, Sacolick L, Vogel MW. Improving high-field MRI using parallel excitation. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2010. [DOI: 10.2217/iim.10.62] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
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45
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Ma C, Xu D, King KF, Liang ZP. Joint design of spoke trajectories and RF pulses for parallel excitation. Magn Reson Med 2010; 65:973-85. [PMID: 21413061 DOI: 10.1002/mrm.22676] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/16/2009] [Revised: 08/11/2010] [Accepted: 09/15/2010] [Indexed: 01/30/2023]
Abstract
The spoke trajectory is often used in designing multidimensional RF pulses for applications requiring thin slice selection and in-slice modulation. Ideally, a full set of spokes covering the whole k-space are desired to generate a given excitation pattern. In practice, however, only a small number of spokes can be used due to the RF pulse length limitation. The spoke locations are, therefore, critical to the performance of the resulting RF pulse and should be in principle optimized jointly with the RF pulse for a given excitation pattern and transmit sensitivities. In this work, we formulate the joint design problem as an optimal spoke selection problem based on the small-tip-angle RF pulse design. A sequential selection based algorithm with recursive cost function evaluation is proposed to seek optimized spoke locations to minimize the excitation error. Bloch equation simulations and experimental results on a 3 Tesla scanner equipped with a two-channel parallel excitation system demonstrate that the proposed method can produce significantly smaller excitation error than conventional methods with high computational efficiency.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chao Ma
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, USA.
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46
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Malik SJ, Larkman DJ, O'Regan DP, Hajnal JV. Subject-specific water-selective imaging using parallel transmission. Magn Reson Med 2010; 63:988-97. [PMID: 20146394 DOI: 10.1002/mrm.22260] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
Spectral-spatial excitation pulses are an efficient means of achieving water- or fat-only imaging and can be used in conjunction with a variety of pulse sequences. However, the approach lacks reliability since its performance is dependent on the homogeneity of the static magnetic field. Sensitivity to static magnetic field variation can be reduced by designing pulses with wider frequency stop bands, but these require longer pulse durations. In the proposed method, spectral-spatial pulses are optimized on a subject-dependent basis to take into account measured subject-specific static magnetic field variation. Extra control of the radiofrequency (RF) field from multichannel transmission is used to achieve this without increasing the length of the pulses. The method characterizes RF pulses using relatively few parameters and has been applied to abdominal imaging at 3 T with an eight-channel system. In a comparison of standard and subject-specific pulses on five healthy volunteers, the latter improved fat suppression in all subjects, with a reduction in RF power of 13% +/- 6%. A forward model suggests that the mean flip angle in fat was reduced from 0.72 degrees +/- 0.55 degrees to 0.12 degrees +/- 0.04 degrees for a 20 degrees excitation; uniformity of water excitation also improved, with the standard deviation divided by mean reduced from 0.26 +/- 0.05 to 0.16 +/- 0.05.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shaihan J Malik
- Robert Steiner MRI Unit, Imaging Sciences Department, Hammersmith Hospital Campus, Imperial College London, London, UK.
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47
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Yang C, Deng W, Alagappan V, Wald LL, Stenger VA. Four-dimensional spectral-spatial RF pulses for simultaneous correction of B1+ inhomogeneity and susceptibility artifacts in T2*-weighted MRI. Magn Reson Med 2010; 64:1-8. [PMID: 20577982 PMCID: PMC3040071 DOI: 10.1002/mrm.22471] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/05/2009] [Accepted: 03/03/2010] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Abstract
Susceptibility artifacts and excitation radiofrequency field B(1)+ inhomogeneity are major limitations in high-field MRI. Parallel transmission methods are promising for reducing artifacts in high-field applications. In particular, three-dimensional RF pulses have been shown to be useful for reducing B(1)+ inhomogeneity using multiple transmitters due to their ability to spatially shape the slice profile. Recently, two-dimensional spectral-spatial pulses have been demonstrated to be effective for reducing the signal loss susceptibility artifact by incorporating a frequency-dependent through-plane phase correction. We present the use of four-dimensional spectral-spatial RF pulses for simultaneous B(1)+ and through-plane signal loss susceptibility artifact compensation. The method is demonstrated with simulations and in T(2)*-weighted human brain images at 3 T, using a four-channel parallel transmission system. Parallel transmission was used to reduce the in-plane excitation resolution to improve the slice-selection resolution between two different pulse designs. Both pulses were observed to improve B(1)+ homogeneity and reduce the signal loss artifact in multiple slice locations and several human volunteers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cungeng Yang
- Department of Medicine, John A. Burns School of Medicine, Honolulu, Hawaii
| | - Weiran Deng
- Department of Medicine, John A. Burns School of Medicine, Honolulu, Hawaii
| | | | - Lawrence L. Wald
- Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Charlestown, Massachusetts
| | - V. Andrew Stenger
- Department of Medicine, John A. Burns School of Medicine, Honolulu, Hawaii
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48
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Haines K, Smith NB, Webb AG. New high dielectric constant materials for tailoring the B1+ distribution at high magnetic fields. JOURNAL OF MAGNETIC RESONANCE (SAN DIEGO, CALIF. : 1997) 2010; 203:323-327. [PMID: 20122862 DOI: 10.1016/j.jmr.2010.01.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 78] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/19/2009] [Revised: 01/06/2010] [Accepted: 01/06/2010] [Indexed: 05/28/2023]
Abstract
The spatial distribution of electromagnetic fields within the human body can be tailored using external dielectric materials. Here, we introduce a new material with high dielectric constant, and also low background MRI signal. The material is based upon metal titanates, which can be made into a geometrically-formable suspension in de-ionized water. The material properties of the suspension are characterized from 100 to 400 MHz. Results obtained at 7 T show a significant increase in image intensity in areas such as the temporal lobe and base of the brain with the new material placed around the head, and improved performance compared to purely water-based gels.
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Affiliation(s)
- K Haines
- Department of Electrical Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA
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