Open AccessFast Room Temperature Very Low Field-Magnetic Resonance Imaging System Compatible with MagnetoEncephaloGraphy Environment
Author(s) -
Angelo Galante,
Raffaele Sinibaldi,
Allegra Conti,
Cinzia De Luca,
N. Catallo,
Piero Sebastiani,
Vittorio Pizzella,
Gian Luca Romani,
A. Sotgiu,
Stefania Della Penna
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0142701
Subject(s) - magnetoencephalography , magnetic resonance imaging , squid , signal to noise ratio (imaging) , nuclear magnetic resonance , magnetic field , physics , larmor precession , computer science , optics , medicine , radiology , ecology , electroencephalography , quantum mechanics , psychiatry , biology
In recent years, ultra-low field (ULF)-MRI is being given more and more attention, due to the possibility of integrating ULF-MRI and Magnetoencephalography (MEG) in the same device. Despite the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) reduction, there are several advantages to operating at ULF, including increased tissue contrast, reduced cost and weight of the scanners, the potential to image patients that are not compatible with clinical scanners, and the opportunity to integrate different imaging modalities. The majority of ULF-MRI systems are based, until now, on magnetic field pulsed techniques for increasing SNR, using SQUID based detectors with Larmor frequencies in the kHz range. Although promising results were recently obtained with such systems, it is an open question whether similar SNR and reduced acquisition time can be achieved with simpler devices. In this work a room-temperature, MEG-compatible very-low field (VLF)-MRI device working in the range of several hundred kHz without sample pre-polarization is presented. This preserves many advantages of ULF-MRI, but for equivalent imaging conditions and SNR we achieve reduced imaging time based on preliminary results using phantoms and ex-vivo rabbits heads.