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MR Hardware/Engineering
Steve Conolly, Steve Wright, Organizers
 
Overview:
This four-hour course will cover four main hardware topics critical to an MRI scanner. The first day will cover the main magnetic field. The second and third days will be devoted to RF arrays on both receive and transmit. These can dramatically improve SNR and/or imaging speed. The last day focuses on two emerging hyperpolarization methods (ESR and hyperpolarized 13C), which allow for sensitive tracer studies.

 

Educational Objectives:
Upon completion of this session, participants should be able to:
· List and compare implementations of static field magnet designs for clinical MRI;
· Recognize that there are fundamental limits on our ability to shim out steep field variations (such as those in the sinuses);
· Describe advances in shim system design;
  • Explain the differences between arrays designed to optimize SNR vs. those designed for partial parallel imaging;
  • Compare and contrast arrays designed for transmit and receive applications;
· Describe algorithms for designing RF pulses for parallel imaging;
• Compare and contrast ESR and NMR; and
• Describe several applications of hyper-polarized 13C and explain methodological differences between conventional MRI and hyperpolarized MRI.
Audience Description:
The course is designed primarily for physicists, engineers, and chemists interested in the methodology of NMR and ESR. Additionally, the course will be of interest to some clinicians with a technical background, and MR technicians who are interested in staying up to date and becoming familiar with some of the latest advances and directions in MR hardware and techniques. Material will be appropriate to a wide range of experience levels, ranging from students just beginning their study of MRI to researchers who have been in the field for many years. Talks will include tutorial information as well as descriptions of the state of the art.

Program
Tuesday, 9 May
B0/Shims
07:00 B0 Johan A. Overweg, Ph.D.
07:30 Shims Peter Jezzard, Ph.D.
Wednesday, 10 May
Receivers and RF Arrays
07:00 Array Systems Nicola de Zanche, Ph.D.
07:30 Receivers System Arne Reykowski, Ph.D.
Thursday, 11 May
Transmit SENSE for RF Homogeneity, SAR Reduction, and Fast RF Pulses
07:00 Transmit Arrays Design Christopher J. Hardy, Ph.D.
07:30 RF Pulse Design for Transmit Sense Douglas C. Noll, Ph.D.
Friday, 12 May
Emerging Methods
07:00 ESR David J. Lurie, Ph.D.
07:30 Hyperpolarized C13 J. Stefan Petersson, M.Sc., Ph.D.