MR Physics 3: Parameters for Image Contrast Flashcards
Why are hydrogen nuclei important in MRI?
Used for MRI because of their magnetic susceptibility and their vast amount in the human body.
An intrinsic property of the hydrogen nuclei is their rotation (spin) which makes them magnetic along the rotational axis.
What is proton density?
Proton density (PD) =most basic MRI measure, representing the concentration of water protons (mobile hydrogen atoms) in each voxel.
How is MRI contrast developed?
Developed due to differences in:
T1, T2, T2* and proton density between different tissue types
What does the recovery time of T1 and T2 depend on?
Molecular motion of each spin near the Larmor frequency causes local magnetic field fluctuations with both T1 and T2 relaxation
What is relaxation?
The process in which spins release the energy received from a radiofrequency pulse
What are the two types of relaxation?
T1 - spin-lattice or longitudinal relaxation
T2 - spin-spin or transverse relaxation
How can MRI contrast be changed?
By changing TR and TE
-By altering the time at which the signal is measured after excitation
-By altering the time allowed to recover between pulses
What is TR?
Time to repetition
i.e. how quickly the entire pulse signal is repeated
What is TE?
Time to echo
i.e. the time between signal excitation and maximum signal
Can TR and TE be manipulated by the researcher?
Yes, they are both under operator control
How does proton density affect T1 contrast?
Controls the image appearance by altering the TR
Differences in PD and T1 between tissues in each image voxel provide image contrast
What does a long TR produce?
Proton density weighted image
What does a short TR produce?
T1 weighted image
What type of image does a spin echo sequence generate?
T2 weighted
What type of image does a gradient echo sequence generate?
T2* weighted
What is a spin echo sequence?
The simplest form of the spin-echo (SE) pulse sequence consists of 90°-pulse, a 180°-pulse, and then an echo.
How is a gradient echo sequence different to spin echo sequence?
Gradient echo uses magnetic gradients to generate a signal, instead of using 180 degrees radiofrequency pulse like spin echo = faster image acquisition time
The gradient echo formation results from applying a dephasing gradient before the frequency-encoding or readout gradient.
What causes the difference between T2 and T2*?
The type of echo sequence they use
What does increasing echo time do?
Increases T2 weighting
What does does decreasing echo time do?
Increases PD weighting
Summarise TR and TEs effect on images.
A long TR and short TE sequence is usually called Proton density-weighted
A short TR and short TE sequence is usually called T1-weighted
A long TR and long TE sequence is usually called T2-weighted
A short TR and long TE is TOO NOISY - dark image not much signal
What is signal to noise ratio?
The Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR) is a measure of the image signal in an area of tissue with respect to the background tissue.