Weekend Educational Session
MR Systems Engineering
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Session Topic: MR Systems Engineering
Session Sub-Topic: MR Systems Engineering
Weekend Course
ORGANIZERS: Ergin Atalar, Christoph Juchem
| Saturday Parallel 4 Live Q&A | Saturday, 8 August 2020, 15:00 - 15:30 UTC | Moderators: : Ergin Atalar & Hiroyuki Fujita |
Skill Level: Basic to Intermediate
Session Number: WE-02
Overview
This half-day educational course introduces the engineering of magnetic resonance systems on a subsystems level. In a series of lectures from experts in MR systems engineering, attendees will be provided with an overview of an MR system and learn about the design of magnet, gradients, and spherical harmonic shim systems, as well as the operation of the radiofrequency (RF) electronic subsystems that interface with RF coils. Issues relating to the site preparation and installation of new MR systems will also be discussed. In addition, attendees will be taught about the key elements of MR safety, peripheral nerve stimulation as well as energy deposition and tissue heating from electromagnetic field interactions.
Note that the technology for multi-coil B0 field modelling and radio-frequency (RF) handling are discussed in further detail in separate half-day and full-day courses, respectively.
Target Audience
This course is aimed at scientists and clinicians who are starting to work in the field of MRI and would like to have an overview of the engineering of an MR system. It is furthermore expected to provide attendees with an understanding of fundamental aspects of MR system operation. More experienced researchers in particular areas of MR engineering will also benefit from hearing about recent advances in the engineering of MR systems.
Educational Objectives
As a result of attending this course, participants should be able to:
- Discuss the basic subsystems hardware components of an MRI scanner, including how they interact and function;
- Describe issues related to installing a new MR scanner, including space, venting, power, and cooling considerations;
- Recognize practical limitations in the design and construction of magnets, gradients, and spherical harmonic shim systems;
- Identify the basic mechanisms by which medical devices interact with the magnet and gradients within an MRI scanner;
- Describe the interactions of electromagnetic fields (both low frequency gradient switching and high frequency RF) with the human body; and
- Explain the RF electronic subsystems that interface with RF coils, including interactions between separate transmit and receive coils.
| MR System Overview
Richard Bowtell
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| B0 Magnet Technology
Andrew Webb
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| Passive B0 Shimming
Kevin Koch
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| B0 Field Measurement
Irena Zivkovic
The goal of this talk is to stress out importance of the B0 field measurements and to present different techniques for the B0 field mapping with their advantages and shortcomings. The widely used technique based on NMR probes will be discussed in details.
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| B0 Shimming with Spherical Harmonic Functions
Hoby Hetherington
Spherical harmonic shimming utilizes an orthogonal basis set of spatial functions to correct for B0inhomogeneity. For 3D mapping of the B0 field, the bandwidth, accuracy and SNR of the acquired maps determine the accuracy of the maps. To achieve optimal results, imperfections in the fields generated by the shim coils need to be considered. Once these issues are addressed, higher order spherical harmonics provide significant advantages (up to 50% more than conventional 1st&2nd order shimming) for both static and dynamic solutions ranging from slices to the entire brain and multi-band shimming.
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| Gradient Coil Design
William Handler
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| Current Amplifiers & Electronics
Mike Twieg
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| Peripheral Nerve Stimulation (PNS)
Valerie Klein
Time-varying MRI gradient fields induce electric fields in the patient that can become strong enough to stimulate peripheral nerves, muscles, and possibly even the heart. These unwanted physiological effects significantly limit the performance of modern MRI gradient systems. This course will discuss the mechanisms underlying gradient field interactions with the human body and will show methods used to investigate and to minimize their occurrence.
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