Communication

SQUID-detected MRI at 132 μT with T1-weighted contrast established at 10 μT–300 mT†

  1. Seung Kyun Lee1,2,*,
  2. Michael Möβle1,2,
  3. Whittier Myers1,2,
  4. Nathan Kelso1,2,
  5. Andreas H. Trabesinger2,3,
  6. Alexander Pines2,3,
  7. John Clarke1,2

Article first published online: 22 DEC 2004

DOI: 10.1002/mrm.20316

Issue

Magnetic Resonance in Medicine

Magnetic Resonance in Medicine

Volume 53, Issue 1, pages 9–14, January 2005

Additional Information

How to Cite

Lee, S. K., Möβle, M., Myers, W., Kelso, N., Trabesinger, A. H., Pines, A. and Clarke, J. (2005), SQUID-detected MRI at 132 μT with T1-weighted contrast established at 10 μT–300 mT. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, 53: 9–14. doi: 10.1002/mrm.20316

Author Information

  1. 1

    Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, California

  2. 2

    Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California

  3. 3

    Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, California

*366 LeConte Hall, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720

  1. †

    This article is a US Government work and, as such, is in the public domain in the United States of America.

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 22 DEC 2004
  2. Article first published online: 22 DEC 2004
  3. Manuscript Accepted: 11 AUG 2004
  4. Manuscript Revised: 9 AUG 2004
  5. Manuscript Received: 7 JUL 2004

Funded by

  • U.S. Department of Energy. Grant Number: DE-AC03–76SF00098
  • Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

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Keywords:

  • low-field MRI;
  • SQUID;
  • T1-weighted contrast;
  • relaxation dispersion

Abstract

T1-weighted contrast MRI with prepolarization was detected with a superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID). A spin evolution period in a variable field between prepolarization and detection enabled the measurement of T1 in fields between 1.7 μT and 300 mT; T1 dispersion curves of agarose gel samples over five decades in frequency were obtained. SQUID detection at 5.6 kHz drastically reduces the field homogeneity requirements compared to conventional field-cycling methods using Faraday coil detection. This allows T1 dispersion measurements to be easily combined with MRI, so that T1 in a wide range of fields can be used for tissue contrast. Images of gel phantoms with T1-weighted contrast at four different fields between 10 μT and 300 mT demonstrated dramatic contrast enhancement in low fields. A modified inversion recovery technique further enhanced the contrast by selectively suppressing the signal contribution for a specific value of the low-field T1. Magn Reson Med 53:9–14, 2005. Published 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

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