MRI

(MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING)

Submitted by :- Guided by :-
Rudrani Goswami Dr Junita K Swer
BAMS 4th prof year Department of Shalya Tantra
 Contents
A. Introduction
B. Principle
C. Steps
D. MRI machine
E. Sequence of MRI
F. MRI in pregnancy
G. Uses of MRI
H. Diagnostic application
I. Advantage
J. Disadvantage
 Introductiom
• MRI is a radiology
technique, which is based
on the principle of
NMR( nuclear magnetic
resonance ).
• In 1977, Raymond Vahan
Damadian was the first
inventor who performed a
full body scan of a human
being.
• He is known as the father
of MRI.
 Principle
• Hydrogen nuclei are particularly suitable for MRI. Because they have a single
proton and neutron in nucleus and also abundant in human body in the form of
water.
• The tissue to be imaged is subjected to strong magnetic field and a strong magnetic
pulse is applied.
• The tissue nuclei is stimulated, and the proton present in the tissues absorbs the
energy and will be excited.
• In the excited state, they release some energy that is received by receiver in the
instrument. This energy is called radio signals.
• This energy is used to read the image
 Steps to make the final image
1. Pre scan and magnetic field
2. Excitation/resonance
3. Relaxation(T1 and T2)
4. Acquisition
5. Computer and display
 Pre Scan and magnetic field
• The protons in human body have
rotatory movement called spin.
• Normally, they move in the human
body randomly in any direction.
• When a human body is placed in a
strong uniform magnetic field, they
align them self with the direction of
magnetic field.
• They also rotates in it’s own axis
and this movement of axis of
rotation is called a precession.
• The number of precession of a
proton per second is called
precession frequency.
 Excitation/Resonance
• Whenever two different energy levels
exists within a physical system,
transition of energy from one state to
another state will occur.
• Transition from low energy state to
high energy state will be induced by an
external source such as oscillating
magnetic field ( Radio frequency pulse/
RF pulse).
• This transition process is known as
excitation.
• The longitudinal magnetization
convert into transverse magnetization.
Flip angles of 90° and 180° are
commonly used in MRI.
 Relaxation
• Relaxation is the process that occurs after terminating the RF pulse.
• The relaxation is important in structure, information of image.
• During the relaxation an atom will release a radio wave.
• Type of relaxation 1)T1 relaxation 2)T2 relaxation.
• T1 relaxation occurs along the Z axis. In this relaxation, water is dark and fat is
bright as water has no signal.
• T2 Relaxation occurs along the XY plane. It involves the process of de- phasing
( After the termination of RF pulse the spin returns to random distribution)
• As water has high signal, so it will be bright and fat will be dark.
T1 and T2 relaxation
 Acquisition
• During the acquisition, the cycle is repeated many times by the repeated process of
alignment, excitation, and relaxation of the proton.
• The time required for image acquisition is determined by the time TR (repetition
time) .
• The gradient will be turned on and off for a specific time for signal acquisition.
• A large amount of data collected which are then sent to the computer system.
 Computer and display
• The data sent into the computer as stored in K space.
• The special software processes the data of k space and converts it into an image.
 MRI machine
1. Magnets
2. Gradient coil
3. Radio frequency coil
4. Scanner
 Sequence of MRI
• T1 weighted imaging
• T2 weighted imaging
• PWD ( proton density weighted imaging)
 T1 Weighted Imaging
• It is a part of almost all
MRI protocols and gives
best anatomical images.
• Tissues with high fat
content appears bright
and tissues with high
water content appears
dark.
• T1 weighted images :
Subacute haemorrhage,
fat containing structures,
anatomical details.

Subdural haemorrhage
 T2 Weighted Imaging
• T2 weighted images best demonstrate pathology as most pathology has an
increased water content and is therefore bright on T2 weighted images.
• It has high signal intensity for fluid ( white).
• It has low signal intensity for fat (dark).
• T2 weighted images seen in edema, infection, chronic haemorrhage.

Fig: Normal T2 weighted fat

suppressed axial image of the
abdomen: The CSF in the spinal
canal is bright (open white arrow).
The bile in the gallbladder is also
bright. The subcutaneous (solid
white arrow ) and intra abdominal
(white dotted arrow) fat are dark.
 T1 and T2 weighted Images
Image B
Image A

Normal T1 weighted and T2 weighted axial images of the abdomen. The CSF fluid
appears dark on the T1 weighted image (A) (solid white arrow) and bright on the T2
weighted image (B)(open white arrow).
T1 and T2 weighted images
 T1 and T2 weighted images

Simple left ovarian cyst. A) Axial T2

weighted image demonstrates an ovoid ,
homogeneously bright lesion in the left
ovary (solid white arrows) adjacent to a
ibroid uterus (dotted white arrows). The
urine in the bladder ( open white arrow)
and CSF in the spinal canal (solid black
arrow) are both bright that helps us to
identify that this image is a T2 weighted
image.
f
T1 and T2 weighted images

B) Axial T2 weighted image shows

that this left ovarian lesion is dark
(solid white arrows) And therefore
consistent with simple fluid. Urine in
the bladder (white arrow) and the
CSF in the spinal canal (solid black
arrow) and also dark.
 Proton Density Weighted Image
• Cortical bone and air are always dark on MR images, regardless of the weight as
they have a low proton density and therefore return little signal.
• To achieve this , both T1 and T2 components are switched off as fully as possible.
• PDW image provide excellent visualisation of soft tissues structures, particularly in
musculoskeletal imaging.
• Muscle is intermediate, bone is dark due to low signal, bone marrow is intermediate
to bright, blood vessels are mostly dark, fat is very bright, ligaments and cartilage is
intermediate to dark, synovial fluid is bright.
PDW image of knee
MRI in pregnancy

Coronal T2 weighted image

demonstrates and intrauterine
pregnancy. The maternal liver (L) and
spleen (S) are partially imaged. The
bright amniotic fluid (A) anal CSF fluid
(dotted white arrow) Help us to
recognise this image as a T2 weighted
image. The fetal body ( solid white
arrow) and leg ( dotted black arrow) can
be seen clearly. The umbilical cord (solid,
black arrow) is partially visualised
 Common uses of MRI
• MR IMAGING OF BODY IS PERFORMED TO EVALUATE:
• Organs of the chest and abdomen, including heart, liver, biliary tract, kidneys,
spleen, pancreas, adrenal glands.
• Pelvic organs, including the reproductive organs in the male ( prostate and testicles)
and the females (uterus, cervix, and ovaries)
• Blood vessels
• Breast
 Diagnostic application
• Tumors of the chest, abdomen or pelvis.
• Certain type of heart problems.
• Blockages, enlargement or anatomical variance of blood vessels.
• Diseases of the liver and other abdominal organs, including the bile duct, gallbladder,
and pancreatic duct.
• Diseases of the small intestine, colon, rectum, and anus.
• Cyst and solid tumours in the kidneys and other parts of the urinary tract.
• Tumours and other abnormalities of the reproductive organs.
• Pelvic diseases of women such as fibroids, endometriosis etc.
• Evaluation for infertility.
• Breast cancer and implants
• Fetal assessment in pregnant woman
 Advantages of MRI
• MRI is a non-invasive imaging technique that does not involve exposure to ionising
radiation.
• It is safe for pregnant woman and children.
• MRI scanning is painless.
• It provides adequate and accurate information to confirm a patient’s diagnosis.
• Images may be acquired in multiple planes like axial, sagital and coronal that
changing the position of the patient.
• MRI images, demonstrate super soft tissue contrast then CT scan making it the ideal
examination of the brain, spine, joints, and other soft tissue body parts.
• MRI can provide information about the blood circulation
 Disadvantages of MRI
• It is very expensive.
• Dangerous for patients with metallic devices such as pacemaker, surgical rods and
plates placed within the body.
• Movement during scanning may cause blurry images.
• Claustrophobia - patient are in a very enclosed space.
• The scanner is very noisy
• A person who is very large may not fit into the opening of a conventional MRI
machine.