An MR scan in 5 minutes?
September 1, 2011
Imagine you could do an MR scanner in 5 minutes and get all the image types that you need.
SyntheticMR offers a product called SyMRI that does just that: “On the MR scanner a special sequence is introduced that results in the measurement of the absolute MR parameters.Based on these parameters T1- and T2-weighted image can be generated without rescanning. As each tissue has its own unique combination of parameters, the anatomy can automatically be segmented into various tissue components”.
The quantification scan is a multi-slice, multi-echo, multi-saturation delay sequence that is able to retrieve T1 and T2 relaxation, proton density and the B1 field in one scan.
Whether this is the future of MRI, only time and clinical studies will tell, but it looks promising.
3T MRI in pediatrics
May 17, 2011
3T MRI is being increasingly performed for clinical purposes. The increased SNR is a significant advantage in pediatrics – improved spatial and temporal resolution assist in overcoming the major anatomic, physiologic and behavioural challenges of imaging children. 3T MRI has the potential to image all the systems in pediatrics. However, optimising the parameters with due consideration to specific pediatric features, such as the increased water content of non myelinated brain, is essential. The neonatal brain and pediatric spine are difficult to image at 3T. Several factors also limit cardiac imaging at present. Further improvements in coil technology and newer sequences may help overcome the challenges that remain. On the other hand, some 3T artefacts inherent to specific anatomic regions, like the dielectric effects encountered in adult abdominal imaging, are less problematic in pediatrics due the smaller size.
For more information, see this white paper
MR images of the birth process
December 21, 2010
MR keeps bringing exciting images of the human body. Who would have expected to have a woman in labor having an MR scan? Well, last November, physicians at the Charité University Hospital in Berlin followed the birth of a child on an open MR system. The movements of the baby in the birth canal to the exit of the head, were monitored through MR imaging.
This is part of a study that tries to show some light into the fact that 15% of pregnant women need a C-section because of the baby not moving properly into the birth canal.
