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An Unmatched Radio Frequency Chain for Low-Field Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is a safe and versatile diagnostic tool for intracranial imaging, however it is also one of the most expensive and specialized making it scarce in low- to middle-income countries (LMIC). The affordability and portability of low-field MRI offers the potential for incr...

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Autores principales: Harper, Joshua R., Zárate, Cristhian, Krauch, Federico, Muhumuza, Ivan, Molina, Jorge, Obungoloch, Johnes, Schiff, Steven J.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9536774/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36213526
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fphy.2021.727536
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author Harper, Joshua R.
Zárate, Cristhian
Krauch, Federico
Muhumuza, Ivan
Molina, Jorge
Obungoloch, Johnes
Schiff, Steven J.
author_facet Harper, Joshua R.
Zárate, Cristhian
Krauch, Federico
Muhumuza, Ivan
Molina, Jorge
Obungoloch, Johnes
Schiff, Steven J.
author_sort Harper, Joshua R.
collection PubMed
description Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is a safe and versatile diagnostic tool for intracranial imaging, however it is also one of the most expensive and specialized making it scarce in low- to middle-income countries (LMIC). The affordability and portability of low-field MRI offers the potential for increased access to brain imaging for diseases like Hydrocephalus in LMIC. In this tutorial style work, we show the design of a low powered and low cost radio frequency chain of electronics to be paired with a previously reported prepolarized low-field MRI for childhood hydrocephalus imaging in sub-Saharan Africa where the incidence of this condition is high. Since the Larmor frequency for this system is as low as 180 kHz, we are able to minimize the impedance of the transmit coil to 5 ohms rather than match to 50 ohms as is traditionally the case. This reduces transmit power consumption by a factor of 10. We also show the use of inexpensive and commonly available animal enclosure fencing (“chicken wire”) as a shield material at this frequency and compare to more traditional shield designs. These preliminary results show that highly portable and affordable low-field MRI systems could provide image resolution and signal-to-noise sufficient for planning hydrocephalus treatment in areas of the world with substantial resource limitations. Employment of these technologies in sub-Saharan Africa offers a cost-effective, sustainable approach to neurological diagnosis and treatment planning in this disease burdened region.
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spelling pubmed-95367742022-10-06 An Unmatched Radio Frequency Chain for Low-Field Magnetic Resonance Imaging Harper, Joshua R. Zárate, Cristhian Krauch, Federico Muhumuza, Ivan Molina, Jorge Obungoloch, Johnes Schiff, Steven J. Front Phys Article Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is a safe and versatile diagnostic tool for intracranial imaging, however it is also one of the most expensive and specialized making it scarce in low- to middle-income countries (LMIC). The affordability and portability of low-field MRI offers the potential for increased access to brain imaging for diseases like Hydrocephalus in LMIC. In this tutorial style work, we show the design of a low powered and low cost radio frequency chain of electronics to be paired with a previously reported prepolarized low-field MRI for childhood hydrocephalus imaging in sub-Saharan Africa where the incidence of this condition is high. Since the Larmor frequency for this system is as low as 180 kHz, we are able to minimize the impedance of the transmit coil to 5 ohms rather than match to 50 ohms as is traditionally the case. This reduces transmit power consumption by a factor of 10. We also show the use of inexpensive and commonly available animal enclosure fencing (“chicken wire”) as a shield material at this frequency and compare to more traditional shield designs. These preliminary results show that highly portable and affordable low-field MRI systems could provide image resolution and signal-to-noise sufficient for planning hydrocephalus treatment in areas of the world with substantial resource limitations. Employment of these technologies in sub-Saharan Africa offers a cost-effective, sustainable approach to neurological diagnosis and treatment planning in this disease burdened region. 2021 /pmc/articles/PMC9536774/ /pubmed/36213526 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fphy.2021.727536 Text en https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Article
Harper, Joshua R.
Zárate, Cristhian
Krauch, Federico
Muhumuza, Ivan
Molina, Jorge
Obungoloch, Johnes
Schiff, Steven J.
An Unmatched Radio Frequency Chain for Low-Field Magnetic Resonance Imaging
title An Unmatched Radio Frequency Chain for Low-Field Magnetic Resonance Imaging
title_full An Unmatched Radio Frequency Chain for Low-Field Magnetic Resonance Imaging
title_fullStr An Unmatched Radio Frequency Chain for Low-Field Magnetic Resonance Imaging
title_full_unstemmed An Unmatched Radio Frequency Chain for Low-Field Magnetic Resonance Imaging
title_short An Unmatched Radio Frequency Chain for Low-Field Magnetic Resonance Imaging
title_sort unmatched radio frequency chain for low-field magnetic resonance imaging
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9536774/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36213526
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fphy.2021.727536
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