A Fast 0.5 T Prepolarizer Module for Preclinical Magnetic Resonance Imaging

• Published in: IEEE transactions on magnetics Vol. 58; no. 2; pp. 1 - 8
• Main Authors: Rigla, Juan P., Borreguero, Jose, Gramage, Carlos, Pallas, Eduardo, Gonzalez, Jose M., Bosch, Ruben, Algarin, Jose M., Sanchez-Andres, Juan V., Galve, Fernando, Grau-Ruiz, Daniel, Pellicer, Ruben, Rios, Alfonso, Benlloch, Jose M., Alonso, Joseba
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 01-02-2022; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Batteries; Copper; Drinking water; Electromagnet; Electronics; Field strength; Image contrast; Image enhancement; Immune system; Inductance; low field; magnet design; Magnetic resonance imaging; magnetic resonance imaging (MRI); Magnetism; Magnetization; Medical imaging; Modules; prepolarization; Signal to noise ratio; Tissues
• ISSN: 0018-9464; 1941-0069
• DOI: 10.1109/TMAG.2021.3080840

We present a magnet and high-power electronics for prepolarized magnetic resonance imaging (PMRI) in a homemade, special-purpose preclinical system designed for simultaneous visualization of hard and soft biological tissues. The sensitivity of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) systems grows with field strength, but so do their costs. PMRI can boost the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in affordable low-field scanners by means of a long and strong magnetic pulse. However, this must be rapidly switched off prior to the imaging pulse sequence, in timescales shorter than the spin relaxation (or <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">T_{1} </tex-math></inline-formula>) time of the sample. We have operated our prepolarizer at up to 0.5 T and demonstrated enhanced magnetization, image SNR, and tissue contrast with PMRI of tap water and an ex vivo mouse brain and food samples. These have <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">T_{1} </tex-math></inline-formula> times ranging from hundreds of milli-seconds to single seconds, while the preliminary high-power electronics setup employed in this work can switch off the prepolarization field in tens of milli-seconds. In order to make this system suitable for solid-state matter and hard tissues, which feature <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">T_{1} </tex-math></inline-formula> times as short as 10 ms, we are developing new electronics, which can cut switching times to <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">\sim {300} {\mu{\mathrm {s}}} </tex-math></inline-formula>. This does not require changes in the prepolarizer module, opening the door to the first experimental demonstration of PMRI on hard biological tissues.