Evaluation of MRI RF probes utilizing infrared sensors

Author

Ibrahim, T.S. ; Lee, R.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Radiol., Univ. of Pittsburgh, PA

Volume

53

Issue

5

fYear

2006

fDate

5/1/2006 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

963

Lastpage

967

Abstract

The magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) coil´s radio frequency (RF) field distribution has a strong effect on image quality as well as specific absorption rate. In this paper, a method of probing a coil´s RF field distribution over any unoccupied region of the coil is presented. This technique is based on the use of infrared sensing. The proposed method was implemented and tested on a high field RF volume coil operating at 340 MHz. Very good agreement was achieved between the infrared measurements and numerical data obtained utilizing an in-house three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain package. The results demonstrate that the proposed technique is practical, robust, and efficient in making accurate measurements of the electric field distributions in loaded and unloaded MRI coils

Keywords

biomedical MRI; coils; finite difference time-domain analysis; infrared detectors; infrared imaging; 340 MHz; MRI RF probes; MRI coils; electric field distributions; in-house three-dimensional finite-difference time-domain package; infrared sensors; magnetic resonance imaging; radiofrequency field distribution; Coils; Finite difference methods; Image quality; Infrared sensors; Magnetic field measurement; Magnetic resonance imaging; Probes; Radio frequency; Testing; Time domain analysis; FDTD; RF coils; infrared sensors; Equipment Design; Equipment Failure Analysis; Humans; Image Enhancement; Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Radiation Dosage; Radio Waves; Radiometry; Spectrophotometry, Infrared; Thermography; Transducers;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Biomedical Engineering, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9294

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TBME.2006.871892

Filename

1621149