Magnetic Resonance Imaging:

Physical Principles

Lewis Center for

NeuroImaging

,
Physics of MRI, An Overview
 Nuclear Magnetic  Fourier Transforms
Resonance – Continuous Fourier
– Nuclear spins Transform
– Spin precession and the – Discrete Fourier Transform
Larmor equation
– Fourier properties
– Static B0
– k-space representation in
– RF excitation
MRI
– RF detection
 Spatial Encoding
– Slice selective excitation
– Frequency encoding
– Phase encoding
– Image reconstruction
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Physics of MRI
 Echo formation  Medical Applications
– Vector summation – Contrast in MRI
– Phase dispersion – Bloch equation
– Phase refocus  Tissue properties
 2D Pulse Sequences – T1 weighted imaging
– Spin echo – T2 weighted imaging
– Gradient echo – Spin density imaging
– Echo-Planar Imaging  Examples
 3D Imaging
 Spectroscopy

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Many spins in a voxel: vector summation

spins in step spins not in step

Rotating
frame

Lamor
precession

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Phase dispersion due to perturbing B
fields
Spin Phase   Bt
B = B0 + B0 + Bcs + Bpp
sampling

Immediately after RF excitation sometime after RF excitation

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Refocus spin phase – echo formation

Echo Time (TE) time

• Invert perturbing field: B -B

Phase 0 Bt -B(t-TE/2) 0
(gradient echo, k-space sampling)

• Invert spin state:  -

Phase 0 Bt -+B(t-TE/2) 0
(spin echo)

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Spin Echo
 Spins dephase with
time
 Rephase spins with a 1 . E q u ilib riu m 2 . 9 0 P u lse
t= 0
3 . S p in D e p h a s in g
180° pulse
 Echo time, TE
 Repeat time, TR
 (Running analogy)
5 . S p in e c h o
t= T E
4 . 1 8 0 P u lse
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Frequency encoding - 1D imaging
Spatial-varying resonance frequency during RF detection

B = B0 + Gxx
S(t) ~ eit
S(t) ~ m(x)eiGxxtdx
m(x)
kx = Gxt
x
S(t) = m(x)eikxxdx = S(kx), m(x) = FT{S(kx)}
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Slice selection
Spatial-varying resonance frequency during RF excitation

  = 0 + Gzz
B1 freq band
z
Excited location

Slice profile

m+ = mx+imy ~  b1(t)e-iGzztdt = B1(Gzz)

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35000
Gradient Echo FT imaging
x Gradient

ky
Amplitude (arb)

-35000

35000
y Gradient
Readout
Amplitude (arb)

-35000

35000

kx
z Gradient
Amplitude (arb)

-35000


35000
RF
k (t ) 
2  G (t )dt
Amplitude (arb)

-35000

0 2000 4000 Time (us) 6000 8000 10000

Repeat with different phase-encoding

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amplitudes to fill k-space 10
Pulse sequence design
35000

x Gradient

Amplitude (arb)
prewinder 0

spoiler
35000
-35000

y Gradient
Amplitude (arb)

rephasor 0

35000
-35000 z Gradient
Amplitude (arb)

rewinder 0

spoiler
35000
-35000 RF
Amplitude (arb)

-35000

0 2000 4000 Time (us) 6000 8000 10000

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EPI (echo planar imaging)
X
ky

Z
kx

RF

time
Quick, but very susceptible to artifacts, particularly B0 field inhomogeneity.
Can acquire a whole image with one RF pulse – single shot EPI
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Spin Echo FT imaging
35000

ky
x Gradient
Amplitude (arb)

-35000

35000
y Gradient
Readout
Amplitude (arb)

-35000

35000
z Gradient kx

Amplitude (arb)


0

k (t )  G (t )dt
2
-35000

35000
RF
Amplitude (arb)

-35000

0 5000 10000 Time (us) 15000 20000 25000

Repeat with different phase-encoding

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Spin Relaxation
 Spins do not continue to precess forever
 Longitudinal magnetization returns to equilibrium
due to spin-lattice interactions – T1 decay
 Transverse magnetization is reduced due to both
spin-lattice energy loss and local, random, spin
dephasing – T2 decay
 Additional dephasing is introduced by magnetic
field inhomogeneities within a voxel – T2' decay.
This can be reversible, unlike T2 decay
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Bloch Equation
 The equation of MR physics

dM   1 1 
 M  B   M 0  M z  zˆ  M 
dt T1 T2
 Summarizes the interaction of a nuclear
spin with the external magnetic field B
and its local environment (relaxation
effects)
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Contrast - T1 Decay
 Longitudinal relaxation
due to spin-lattice 1.0
o
180 Pulse
interaction
0.5
 Mz grows back towards its

Mz/M0
equilibrium value, M0 0.0

 t / T1
M z (t )  M 0 (1  e ) -0.5
Inversion Recovery

-1.0
 For short TR, equilibrium 0 1 2 3 4 5
t/T1
moment is reduced
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Contrast - T2 Decay
 Transverse relaxation due
1.0
to spin dephasing
 T2 irreversible dephasing 0.8

 T2/ reversible dephasing

Mx(t)/Mx(0)
0.6

 Combined effect 0.4

1 1 1
*
  / 0.2

T2 T2 T2 0.0
0 1 2 3 4 5
*
t / T2*
M  (t )  M  (0)e t/T2

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Free Induction Decay –
Gradient echo (GRE)
 Excite spins, then MR signal
measure decay
 Problems: e-t/T2*
– Rapid signal decay
– Acquisition must be
time
disabled during RF
– Don’t get central
0
“echo” data 90 RF
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Spin echo (SE)

MR signal e-t/T2

e-t/T2*
time

0 0
90 RF 180 RF
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MR Parameters: TE and TR
 Echo time, TE is the time from the RF excitation
to the center of the echo being received. Shorter
echo times allow less T2 signal decay
 Repetition time, TR is the time between one
acquisition and the next. Short TR values do not
allow the spins to recover their longitudinal
magnetization, so the net magnetization available
is reduced, depending on the value of T 1
 Short TE and long TR give strong signals

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Contrast, Imaging Parameters
 TR / T1  TE / T2
S(TR , TE )  (1  e )e (SE)
 TR / T1  TE / T2*
or (1  e )e (GRE)
TE TR Image Weighting
Short Long Proton
Short Short T1
*
Long Long T2, T2

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Properties of Body Tissues
Tissue T1 (ms) T2 (ms)
Grey Matter (GM) 950 100
White Matter (WM) 600 80
Muscle 900 50
Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF) 4500 2200
Fat 250 60
Blood 1200 100-200

MRI has high contrast for different tissue types!

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MRI of the Brain - Sagittal

T1 Contrast T2 Contrast Proton Density

TE = 14 ms TE = 100 ms TE = 14 ms
TR = 400 ms TR = 1500 ms TR = 1500 ms
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MRI of the Brain - Axial

T1 Contrast T2 Contrast Proton Density

TE = 14 ms TE = 100 ms TE = 14 ms
TR = 400 ms TR = 1500 ms TR = 1500 ms
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Brain - Sagittal Multislice T1

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Brain - Axial Multislice T1

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Brain Tumor
T1 T2

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3D Imaging
 Instead of exciting a thin slice, excite a thick slab
and phase encode along both ky and kz
 Greater signal because more spins contribute to
each acquisition
 Easier to excite a uniform, thick slab than very
thin slices
 No gaps between slices
 Motion during acquisition can be a problem

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2D Sequence (Gradient Echo)

acq
ky
Gx
Gy

Gz kx
b1
TE
Scan time = NyTR
TR
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3D Sequence (Gradient Echo)

acq kz
Gx
Gy

Gz
ky
b1 kx

Scan time = NyNzTR

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3D Imaging - example
•Contrast-enhanced MRA of the
carotid arteries. Acquisition time
~25s.
•160x128x32 acquisition (kxkykz).
•3D volume may be reformatted in
post-processing. Volume-of-
interest rendering allows a feature
to be isolated.
•More on contrast-enhanced MRA
later

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Spectroscopy
 Precession frequency depends on the chemical
environment (Bcs) e.g. Hydrogen in water and hydrogen
in fat have a f = fwater – ffat = 220 Hz
 Single voxel spectroscopy excites a small (~cm3) volume
and measures signal as f(t). Different frequencies
(chemicals) can be separated using Fourier transforms
 Concentrations of chemicals other than water and fat tend
to be very low, so signal strength is a problem
 Creatine, lactate and NAA are useful indicators of tumor
types

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Spectroscopy - Example

Intensity

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Future lectures
 Magnetization preparation  Perfusion and diffusion
(phase and magnitude,  Functional imaging
pelc) (fMRI)
 Fast imaging (fast  Cardiac imaging
sequences, epi, spiral…) (coronary MRA)
 Motion (artifacts,
compensation, correction,
navigator…)
 MR angiography (TOF,
PC, CE)

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3rd dimension – phase encoding
Before frequency encoding and after slice selection,
apply y-gradient pulse that makes spin phase
varying linearly in y.

Repeat RF excitation and detection with different

gradient area.

S(ky, t) = m+(x,y,z)dz)eikyyeiGxxtdxdy
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