SBIR-STTR Award

This research will contribute to the development of a whole-body magnetic resonance ftnaging (MRI) system capable of acquiring complete tomographic proton images in about 50 milliseconds. In particular, the potential utilization of 180-degree radiofrequency pulses is addressed as a means of eliminating artifacts that arise as a result of magnetic field strengths mandated by signal-to-noise ratio and spatial resolution requirements.Although now accepted as an extremely valuable diagnostic technique, MRI is limited in its applicability to organs that move involuntarily, especially the heart. This is a direct consequence of the long scan times (typically several minutes) currently required. In addition to eliminating the motion artifacts thereby occasioned, the proposed high-speed technique will enable a new class of dynamic and functional MRI studies to be performed. The increased patient throughput possible with such rapid scan times will optimize the cost-effectiveness of the technology, an especially important consideration in today's cost-conscious health care climate.National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)

The research proposed in this application will contribute to the further development of a whole-body magnetic resonance (MR) imaging system, capabl of acquiring complete tomographic proton images in 1/25th of a second. Specifically extensions and variants of the present Instant Scan pulse sequence will be developed, with the goal of providing the physician with variety of options with respect to imaging speed, signal-to-noise ratio, spatial resolution, and number of "simultaneous" slices, such that the sca may be optimised for a given examination. The Instant Scan method and the proposed variants will undergo clinical trials on normal volunteers and selected patients, to help assess their potential clinical utility.Although now accepted as an extremely valuable diagnostic technique, MR is limited in its application to organs which move involuntarily. This is a direct result of the long scan times typically required. The Instant Scan method, because of its "snapshot" imaging capability, eliminates this problem. The proposed variants of the Instant Scan method will help ensur that optimum image quality is obtained when static organ systems are scanned.Further development of this second generation MRI system will therefore open new avenues of clinical investigation and commercial opportunity.

Thesaurus Terms:
Biomagnetism Biomedical Engineering, Instrumentation Clinically Oriented Biomedical Systems Automated Biomedical Systems Automated, Computer Processing Of Clinical Data Computer Programming Computer Simulation Diagnostic Quality-Standards Gastrointestinal Visualization Heart Function, Heart Motion Heart Visualization Human, Clinical Liver Visualization Optics, Image Enhancement Optics, Image Processing Analysis And Display Optics, Imaging-Visualization Optics, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (Mri) Pancreas VisualizationNational Cancer Institute (NCI)