The basics of

Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Dr Helen Gustafsson
Medical Physics Specialist
Royal North Shore Hospital
November 2011

Acknowledgements

Magnus Karlsson, Siemens AB

Mathias Blasche, Siemens AG

Dr Andreas Weibull, Lund University

Ass Professor Jonas Svensson, Lund University

Professor Clive Baldock, University of Sydney

Professor JP Hornack
http://www.cis.rit.edu/htbooks/nmr/inside.htm

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)

Very strong magnetic field
(1.5 Tesla) ~25000 x the
earth magnetic field

Good for soft tissue
imaging

Anatomical and functional
imaging

No ionizing radiation

Spectroscopy
Neuro/functional
Angiography
Cardiac

Body

Oncology

Orthopedic

Magnetic Resonance Imaging

history

Fourier (19th century)

Developed Fourier transformation

Bloch and Purcell (1946)
Described NMR phenomenon

Odeblad and Londstrom (1955)
First in-vivo NMR measurements on
living cells

Magnetic Resonance Imaging

history

Damadian (1973)
NMR technique to diagnose cancer 
patent
Starts Fonar company
first commercial MRI machine (1985, UCLA)

Magnetic Resonance Imaging

history

Lauterbur and Mansfield
Use of gradients, spatial encoding MR
Imaging
Imaging of tubes of water, clam, rat anatomy

Clinical MRI
Proton density images
T1 and T2 weighted images

Learning Objectives

MRI hardware

Where does the MRI signal come from?

What is the basis for image contrast (T1 and T2
relaxation)?

How does the spin echo sequence work?

How can we manipulate the signal to get different
contrast?

Hardware

Permanent

Resistive

Superconductive
Superconductive 1.5-7 T

Permanent 0.35 T

Hardware main components

Main magnet

Shim coils
Passive
Active

Gradient coils

Radio frequency (RF) coils

Computers

Hardware Gradient coils

The spin

Spin is a fundamental quantum mechanical property which
comes in multiples of and can be positive or negative

Individual electrons, protons, and neutrons each possesses a
spin of 1/2

Particles with a spin have a magnetic moment, and rotates

around its own axis at the Larmor frequency, , in a
magnetic field with strength B
Larmor frequency =B0
is the gyromagnetic ratio
B0 is the magnetic field strength

The hydrogen nucleus

N

The hydrogen nucleus=proton

Lots of it in the body, mostly in
water (H2O) and fat (CH2-CH3-)

Good choice for MRI!

S
hydrogen nucleus=proton=spin

Spins in an external magnetic field

Protons are normally randomly oriented in the body but will
line up in an external magnetic field (B0)

Some parallel and some antiparallel to the field direction

B0

The Net Magnetization Vector (M)

Number of up/down spins is goverened by the Boltzman
distribution

Excess in parallel direction gives net magnetization vector
(M)

B0

H p.
H antip .

E
k bT

E = h B0
(Excess is approx 9 per 1 000 000 @ 1.5T)

Flipping the spin

B0
M0

The spin will absorb a

photon of the right
frequency (), thus
gaining energy

Applying a
radiofrequency field
(RF-pulse) flips the
hydrogen atoms

90-pulse

Detecting the signal

A rotating magnet will generate a current in a coil (antenna)

B0
M0

90-pulse

Hardware - receiving coils

The free induction decay (FID)

90

Mxy

FID

Note on other nuclei

Many nuclei has a spin and can be used for MRI imaging

They will be precessing a unique Larmor frequency
(remember the gyromagnetic ratio is a constant, unique for
an atom or molecule)

The RF pulse frequency and coils can be tuned to signal
from other nuclei, and some scanners have multiple nuclei
imaging capability

Also, there is signal from other hydrogen atoms than the
ones attached to water again, by slightly changing the
receiving frequency the signal can be obtained

What is the basis for image contrast?

The signal from spins in different environments (tissues)

have different signal properties which are used to obtain
the varying signal intensity

Three basic types of contrast

Proton density

T1 relaxation (spin-lattice or longitudinal)

T2 (T2*) relaxation (spin-spin or transversal)

Proton density

A high tissue proton density leads to a large magnetisation
vector, M0, which in turn gives a higher signal
Signal

Water

Fat

Bone

Grey
Matter

Relaxation

Any system will return to its lowest energy state
(equilibrium)

This is an exponential process initially fast but
slows down when getting closer to the equilibrium
state

T1 relaxation energy loss

T1 relaxation (longitudinal, spin-lattice) is governed by
loss of energy to the surrounding material - individual
spins flip back until the longitudinal magnetization is
recovered

z
Mz

M
x

Tissue 1

Tissue 2

time

T1 relaxation

Efficient energy transfer when field fluctuations of molecular
lattice matches the Larmor frequency
Fat and protein have structured lattice and short T1
In fluids the molecular mobility of hydrogen is faster than field
fluctuations, i.e. water and CSF has very long T1
Tissue

T1 @ 1 Tesla (ms)

Fat

240

Muscle

730

White Matter

680

Grey Matter

809

CSF

2500

T2 relaxation - dephasing

T2 relaxation (transversal, spin-spin) is caused by
dephasing of the spins - they loose phase coherence
due to dipole-dipole interaction

Mxy

y
Tissue 1

Tissue 2
time

T2 relaxation

Not just due to interaction between spins but
traditionally known as spin-spin relaxation

T2 is ~independent on field strength and always
shorter than T1
Tissue

T1 @ 1 Tesla (ms)

T2 (ms)

Fat

240

84

Muscle

730

47

White Matter

680

92

Grey Matter

809

101

CSF

2500

1400

T2* relaxation

T2* takes dephasing due to local field inhomogeneities
into account the so called susceptibility effect

T2*<T2
Mx,y

T2*

T2

time

The true FID

90

Mxy

FID

The Pulse Sequence

RF pulse

RF pulse
FID

Repetition time=TR

FID

The Spin Echo

TR
90

TE/2

180

TE/2

90

RF

Echo

Spins dephase (FID)

Echo time=TE

Spins rephase

T2 weighting (play with TE)

Mxy

Tissue 1

Tissue 2
time

T1 weighting (play with TR)

Mz

Tissue 1

Tissue 2

time

Bloch Equations (1946)

dM x
Mx
= (M y Bz M z B y )
dt
T2
dM y
dt

= (M z Bx M x Bz )

My
T2

Mz M0
dM z
= ( M x B y M y B x )
dt
T1

In summary - contrast

Proton density weighting
Long TR (>2000 ms) and short TE (approx 10 ms)

T1 weighting
Short TR (approx 300 ms) and short TE (approx
10 ms)

T2 weighting
Long TR (>2000 ms) and long TE (50-100 ms)

Fat is bright on T1 weighted images

Water is bright on T2 weighted images (WW2)

Questions?

Reading suggestions

Webb (ed.), The Physics of Medical Imaging (Institute of
Physics Publishing, Bristol and Philadelphia)

Haacke and Brown, Magnetic Resonance Imaging:
Physical Principles and Design (John Wiley and Sons Ltd.,
1999)

Vendors books on basics of MRI

The basics of MRI by Joseph P. Hornak
http://www.cis.rit.edu/htbooks/nmr/inside.htm

http://www.revisemri.com/