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Shen S, Koonjoo N, Longarino FK, Lamb LR, Villa Camacho JC, Hornung TPP, Ogier SE, Yan S, Bortfeld TR, Saksena MA, Keenan KE, Rosen MS. Breast imaging with an ultra-low field MRI scanner: a pilot study. medRxiv 2024:2024.04.01.24305081. [PMID: 38633799 PMCID: PMC11023648 DOI: 10.1101/2024.04.01.24305081] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/19/2024]
Abstract
Breast cancer screening is necessary to reduce mortality due to undetected breast cancer. Current methods have limitations, and as a result many women forego regular screening. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can overcome most of these limitations, but access to conventional MRI is not widely available for routine annual screening. Here, we used an MRI scanner operating at ultra-low field (ULF) to image the left breasts of 11 women (mean age, 35 years ±13 years) in the prone position. Three breast radiologists reviewed the imaging and were able to discern the breast outline and distinguish fibroglandular tissue (FGT) from intramammary adipose tissue. Additionally, the expert readers agreed on their assessment of the breast tissue pattern including fatty, scattered FGT, heterogeneous FGT, and extreme FGT. This preliminary work demonstrates that ULF breast MRI is feasible and may be a potential option for comfortable, widely deployable, and low-cost breast cancer diagnosis and screening.
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Kraft M, Ryger S, Berman BP, Downs ME, Jordanova KV, Poorman ME, Oberdick SD, Ogier SE, Russek SE, Dagher J, Keenan KE. Towards a barrier-free anthropomorphic brain phantom for quantitative magnetic resonance imaging: Design, first construction attempt, and challenges. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0285432. [PMID: 37437022 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0285432] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/23/2023] [Accepted: 04/21/2023] [Indexed: 07/14/2023] Open
Abstract
Existing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) reference objects, or phantoms, are typically constructed from simple liquid or gel solutions in containers with specific geometric configurations to enable multi-year stability. However, there is a need for phantoms that better mimic the human anatomy without barriers between the tissues. Barriers result in regions without MRI signal between the different tissue mimics, which is an artificial image artifact. We created an anatomically representative 3D structure of the brain that mimicked the T1 and T2 relaxation properties of white and gray matter at 3 T. While the goal was to avoid barriers between tissues, the 3D printed barrier between white and gray matter and other flaws in the construction were visible at 3 T. Stability measurements were made using a portable MRI system operating at 64 mT, and T2 relaxation time was stable from 0 to 22 weeks. The phantom T1 relaxation properties did change from 0 to 10 weeks; however, they did not substantially change between 10 weeks and 22 weeks. The anthropomorphic phantom used a dissolvable mold construction method to better mimic anatomy, which worked in small test objects. The construction process, though, had many challenges. We share this work with the hope that the community can build on our experience.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mikail Kraft
- National Institute of Standards and Technology, Physical Measurement Laboratory, Boulder, Colorado, United States of America
| | - Slavka Ryger
- National Institute of Standards and Technology, Physical Measurement Laboratory, Boulder, Colorado, United States of America
| | - Ben P Berman
- The MITRE Corporation, McLean, Virginia, United States of America
| | - Matthew E Downs
- The MITRE Corporation, McLean, Virginia, United States of America
| | - Kalina V Jordanova
- National Institute of Standards and Technology, Physical Measurement Laboratory, Boulder, Colorado, United States of America
| | - Megan E Poorman
- Hyperfine, Inc, Guilford, Connecticut, United States of America
| | - Samuel D Oberdick
- National Institute of Standards and Technology, Physical Measurement Laboratory, Boulder, Colorado, United States of America
- Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, United States of America
| | - Stephen E Ogier
- National Institute of Standards and Technology, Physical Measurement Laboratory, Boulder, Colorado, United States of America
- Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, United States of America
| | - Stephen E Russek
- National Institute of Standards and Technology, Physical Measurement Laboratory, Boulder, Colorado, United States of America
| | - Joseph Dagher
- The MITRE Corporation, McLean, Virginia, United States of America
| | - Kathryn E Keenan
- National Institute of Standards and Technology, Physical Measurement Laboratory, Boulder, Colorado, United States of America
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Jordanova KV, Martin MN, Ogier SE, Poorman ME, Keenan KE. In vivo quantitative MRI: T 1 and T 2 measurements of the human brain at 0.064 T. MAGMA 2023:10.1007/s10334-023-01095-x. [PMID: 37208553 PMCID: PMC10386946 DOI: 10.1007/s10334-023-01095-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2022] [Revised: 04/03/2023] [Accepted: 04/19/2023] [Indexed: 05/21/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To measure healthy brain [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] relaxation times at 0.064 T. MATERIALS AND METHODS [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] relaxation times were measured in vivo for 10 healthy volunteers using a 0.064 T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system and for 10 test samples on both the MRI and a separate 0.064 T nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) system. In vivo [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] values are reported for white matter (WM), gray matter (GM), and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) for automatic segmentation regions and manual regions of interest (ROIs). RESULTS [Formula: see text] sample measurements on the MRI system were within 10% of the NMR measurement for 9 samples, and one sample was within 11%. Eight [Formula: see text] sample MRI measurements were within 25% of the NMR measurement, and the two longest [Formula: see text] samples had more than 25% variation. Automatic segmentations generally resulted in larger [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] estimates than manual ROIs. DISCUSSION [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] times for brain tissue were measured at 0.064 T. Test samples demonstrated accuracy in WM and GM ranges of values but underestimated long [Formula: see text] in the CSF range. This work contributes to measuring quantitative MRI properties of the human body at a range of field strengths.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kalina V Jordanova
- Physical Measurement Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology, NIST, Boulder, CO, USA.
| | - Michele N Martin
- Physical Measurement Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology, NIST, Boulder, CO, USA
| | - Stephen E Ogier
- Physical Measurement Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology, NIST, Boulder, CO, USA
- Department of Physics, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA
| | | | - Kathryn E Keenan
- Physical Measurement Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology, NIST, Boulder, CO, USA
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Ogier SE, Wilcox M, Cheshkov S, Dimitrov IE, Malloy CR, McDougall MP, Wright SM. A Frequency Translation System for Multi-Channel, Multi-Nuclear MR Spectroscopy. IEEE Trans Biomed Eng 2020; 68:109-118. [PMID: 32746012 DOI: 10.1109/tbme.2020.2997770] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Most MRI scanners are equipped to receive signals from 1H array coils but few support multi-channel reception for other nuclei. Using receive arrays can provide significant SNR benefits, usually exploited to enable accelerated imaging, but the extension of these arrays to non-1H nuclei has received less attention because of the relative lack of broadband array receivers. Non-1H nuclei often have low sensitivity and stand to benefit greatly from the increase in SNR that arrays can provide. This paper presents a cost-effective approach for adapting standard 1H multi-channel array receivers for use with other nuclei - in this case, 13C. METHODS A frequency translation system has been developed that uses active mixers residing at the magnet bore to convert the received signal from a non-1H array to the 1H frequency for reception by the host system receiver. RESULTS This system has been demonstrated at 4.7T and 7T while preserving SNR and isolation. 1H decoupling, particularly important for 13C detection, can be straightforwardly accommodated. CONCLUSION Frequency translation can convert 1H-only multi-channel receivers for use with other nuclei while maintaining SNR and channel isolation while still enabling 1H decoupling. SIGNIFICANCE This work allows existing multi-channel MRI receivers to be adapted to receive signals from nuclei other than 1H, allowing for the use of receive arrays for in vivo multi-nuclear NMR.
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Huang CH, Ogier SE, Gu M, Wright SM. Flexible RF Filtering Front-End For Simultaneous Multinuclear MR Spectroscopy. Annu Int Conf IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc 2019; 2018:1368-1371. [PMID: 30440646 DOI: 10.1109/embc.2018.8512558] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
Simultaneously interrogation of multiple nuclei has been of interest since the very earliest days of MRI [1]-[3]. Our group and several others are revisiting this topic [4]-[6]. Very fast broadband electronics make it possible to digitize a wide spectrum, including multiple nuclei, but this places great demands on data throughput. Another issue is that there can be great variance between RF preamplifier gain required for the different nuclei. To overcome the data problem, it is desirable to use undersampling, but this requires passband filtering around the resonant frequency of each nuclei. Here we present a frequency agile front end that provides separate data paths for each nucleus, either from a single coil or from multiple ports, allows independent gain, filters each using very flexible transmission line filtering, and then combines them back for undersampling.
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Ogier SE, Wright SM. A frequency translation approach for multichannel (13)C spectroscopy. Annu Int Conf IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc 2016; 2015:1564-7. [PMID: 26736571 DOI: 10.1109/embc.2015.7318671] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Multi-channel receivers are commonplace in MRI, but very few of these receivers are capable of operating over a broad enough bandwidth to accommodate nuclei other than (1)H. While this is fine for imaging, the recent surge in interest in in vivo NMR has created a need for receive arrays to improve the often-poor sensitivity of other nuclei. However, the development of these arrays has been slowed by the scarcity of multi-channel, multinuclear receivers. Frequency translation is a method to solve this by using radiofrequency mixers to convert signals received from multinuclear arrays to the proton frequency, adapting narrow-band receivers to multinuclear use. This method works with a wide variety of nuclei and easily accommodates proton decoupling, a necessity for working with (13)C.
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