Magnetic Resonance Imaging
In 1944, Isidor Isaac Rabi was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics for
his resonance method for recording the magnetic properties of atomic
nuclei. This method was based on measuring the spin of the protons in
the atom's core, a phenomenon known as nuclear magnetic moments. From
Rabi's work, Paul C. Lauterbur and Peter Mansfield were able to
research into magnetic resonance imaging (also known as nuclear
magnetic resonance, NMR) and were awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine
in 2003.
Lauterbur, a professor and director of the Biomedical Magnetic
Resonance Laboratory at the University of Illinois, realised that it
was to possible to create an 'internal picture' of an object by NMR
and had his ideas witnessed by a colleague. These ideas were based on
the use of a magnetic field gradient - a magnetic field that varies
through space.
Mansfield, a professor of physics at the University of Nottingham had
no knowledge of Lauterbur's work and had an idea of how he might get
an NMR picture of a crystal, similar to an X-ray signal crystal
structure. With continual pioneering work with his colleagues, he was
able to produce the first picture from a live human subject in 1976
with true anatomical detail. He continued to be a pioneer in the
field, developing better imaging methods for larger body parts and
also for imaging well past the sub-cellular level, all using the idea
of NMR.
How does MRI work?
To investigate this, I intend to give an account on the basic physics
of MRI and then explain the significance of the phenomenon to today's
society. The areas I will research and address are:
...
... middle of paper ...
...h the other sources that describe the work of both
Mansfield, Lauterbur and others in MRI.
Physics Review - "Aiming further"
Philip Allan
This is a review written by a well-known author and is expected to be
as reliable as can be.
http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~stella/papers/blairthesis/main/node11.html
Blair Mackiewich
Few spelling mistakes present but all the MRI physics and ideas are
consistent with the books and other reliable sources
http://www.erads.com/mrimod.htm
Margaret M. King
A lot of information on the basics of MRI and also its history. No
conflicts are present with any sources.
http://www.howstuffworks.com/mri.htm
Todd A Gould
The website is well known as a source for learning how virtually
anything works. The detailed information about MRI agrees with other
sources.
MRI is a unique machine that not only helps people, but also detects if something is wrong inside a patient’s body. MRI machines are getting more advanced each year and every year it saves lives. According to MedicineNet, “It provides valuable information on glands and organ within the abdomen, and accurate information about the structure of the joints, soft tissues, and bones of the body. Often, surgery can be deferred or more accurately directed after knowing the results of an MRI scan.” Doctors will be doing less guessing and more knowing when it comes to surgery.
Positron Emission Tomography is a scanning technique that allows us to measure in detail the functioning of distinct areas of the human brain while the patient is comfortable, conscious and alert. PET represents a type of functional imaging, unlike X-rays or CT scans, which show only structural details within the brain. The differences between these types of imaging don’t end there.
Johnston, J. (2012). Essentials of Radiographic Physics and Imaging. St Loius, Missouri: Elsevier Mosby Publishing.
Many different "snapshots" (at many angles through the patient) are collected during one complete rotation. For each rotation of the X-ray source and detector assembly, the image data are sent to a computer to reconstruct all of the individual "snapshots" into one or multiple cross-sectional images (slices) of the internal organs and tissues [19]. Fig.2 shows the CT images for multiple slices of the brain. The minimum and maximum number of CT slices range from 1 to 64 and 320 [18, 19].
One of the greater advantages of fMRI is the spatial resolution (millimeters), so we can say MR imaging has outstanding spatial resolution but has a short coming with respect to temporal resolution of less than a second (4).
Hearing the beeping and creaking noise of the machine, as the patient slowly rolls inside, is an everyday routine. As the patient sits inside, quietly panicking from claustrophobia, the patient’s body is scanned, hears reassuring words about how they are doing great and to stay still over the microphone. A twelve-year-old boy named Chase, had just recently fallen out of a tree and broke a few bones in his arm and collarbone. The Radiologist of the facility, Dr. Anderson M.D, instructs to scan the entire body just to make sure nothing else was sprained or broken as the boy’s body was covered in a few scrapes and bruises. As his body was being scanned, the MRI Tech and Chase start to ask each other questions to calm down his nerves and distract him from
Modern medicine is capable of treating a tremendous range of human disease and injuries, but the usefulness of all medical specialties depends on accurate diagnosis. Virtually every conceivable medical specialty relies on radiological technologies to provide formal diagnoses, making radiology one of the most important of all medical specialties. Radiologists enjoy some of the best working conditions in modern medicine and typically experience very positive employment conditions. Consequently, their services are generally in very high demand, with many starting out with six-figure annual incomes immediately after completion of their professional training.
Computed tomography (CT) and Radionuclide imaging (RNI) are both a form of diagnostic imaging. Since they have been first introduced in medical imaging they both suffered a huge development over the years in terms of image acquisition and also patient radiation protection. The following essay it is going to focus on just a few important things that make CT and RNI similar and different in the same time. However this subject can be discussed in much depth, the focus is going to be on the similarities and differences of the physics imaging methods and also a small awareness of biological effects and radiation protection.
After graduating with my Bachelor’s degree, I continued to work as a staff MRI technologist. Even though I loved what I did and had a passion helping people, the lack of diversity within radiology and its limited room for growth bothered me. I decided to look into furthering my career and found an interest in Health Information Technology. Upon researching many different schools through the country offering an online graduate Health Information Technology program, the University of Michigan in Dearborn stood out to me. Medicine and technology have both always been a part of my life, and I am very happy and excited that the chance for it to play a new part has finally arrived. I’m motivated to learn how I can combine the science of information with clinical knowledge so I can help to better patient care and
Nuclear medicine investigation offers information that is unique including on both function and structure and often inaccessible using other imaging procedures.1¬ Nuclear medicine provides the information specifically and accurately about any disease inside the human body. It gives the information about how the infection of a disease is structured and how it is functioned. All in all, the nuclear medicine technology provides very exclusive information that is unreachable with the other imaging technologies.
One of the most recently new advances in radiology is the use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). MRI has been around for the past century. It was at first called Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and then it changed to MRI once there was an available image. Walter Gerlach and Otto Stern were the first scientists to start experimenting with the magnetic imaging. Their very first experiment was looking at the magnetic moments of silver by using some type of x-ray beam. The scientists then discovered this was by realizing that the magnetic force in the equipment and in the object itself. In 1975, the first image was finally created using and MRI machine. The scientists used a Fourier Transformation machine to reconstruct images into 2D. The first images ever use diagnostically was in 1980. This is when hospitals began to use them. At first the images took hours to develop and were only used on the patients that needed it most. Even though MRI has been around for a long time, it has advanced and has been one of the best imaging modalities recently (Geva, 2006).
Without the use of physics in the medical field today, diagnosis of problems would be challenging, to say the least. The world of medical imaging in particular has benefited greatly from the use of physics.
One of the biggest contributors to medical and neurological research is the advance of computers and technology. One such advance is the development of the MRI scan. This magnetic resonance imaging scanner has allowed medical professionals to study the brain and nervous system in much more detail. In 2009 a study was carried out by doctors at Washington University School of Medicine in S.t Louis identifying how brain function develops with age. This ongoing study is a baseline on how to support children best in early years with their cognitive development, which is also being used in the study of autism.
Since the brain is extremely fragile and difficult to access without risking further damage, imaging techniques are used frequently as a noninvasive method of visualizing the brain’s structure and activity. Today's technology provides many useful tools for studying the brain. But even with our highest technology out there we do not know everything definitely. We do have fallbacks at times and these fallbacks can lead to serious problems.
Radioisotopes have helped create advanced imaging techniques. Beforehand, X rays could only provide so much information such as broken bones, abnormal growths, and locating foreign objects in the body. Now it is possible to obtain much more information from medical imaging. Not only can this advanced imaging give imaging of tiny structures in the body, but it can also provide details such as cancerous cells and damaged heart tissue from a heart...