Maryam Salim1,2, Ali Caglar Ozen3, Michael Bock3, and Ergin Atalar1,2
1Electrical and Electronics Engineering Department, Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey, 2National Magnetic Resonance Research Center (UMRAM), Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey, 3Department of Radiology - Medical Physics, University Medical Center Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
Synopsis
In this work, we demonstrated feasibility of MRI with concurrent excitation and acquisition (CEA) using our decoupling method which is potentially useful for MRI of tissues with ultra-short T2*. We have used the concepts used in the full-duplex radio system to suppress the Tx signal coupled on the Rx coil. We could achieve up to 100 dB decoupling between Tx and Rx coils using the cancellation circuit. 3D pulse radial scan was conducted using CEA. Deconvolved MR signal response from a rubber phantom and image of it in coronal slice orientation is demonstrated as the feasibility of the proposed method.Introduction
MRI of materials and tissues with fast transverse relaxation
requires data acquisition immediately after MR excitation [1]. Several studies demonstrated
MRI with concurrent excitation and acquisition (CEA) such as sideband
excitation [2], continuous swift [3], rapid scan correlation spectroscopy [4],
and active decoupling [5]. In [5], an extra transmit (Tx) chain is used to
generate a cancellation signal that is combined with the signal on the receive
(Rx) chain to cancel the coupling signal. However, using two different Tx
chains with different random noises causes the noise in the system to increase and
hence SNR to decrease. In communication systems, in order to transmit and
receive in the same channel simultaneously (full-duplex radios), transmit and
receive signals should be isolated. In a recent work this challenge has been
addressed [6]. The same problem exists in the MRI when we want to receive the
MR signal during RF pulse transmission. In this work, we have used the concepts
used in the full-duplex radio system to suppress the Tx signal coupled on the Rx
coil. We could achieve up to 100 dB decoupling between Tx and Rx coils using
our cancellation circuit. This method can also cancel random noise since it
uses single Tx chain. We demonstrated feasibility of MRI with CEA using our
decoupling method which is potentially useful for MRI of tissues with very fast
decay time.
Methods
We have used two loop coils of 60 mm diameter as Tx and Rx coils. Ideally,
by placing two coils orthogonally, the interaction between electric and
magnetic fields is mitigated. However, since the magnetic fields of two coils
are not totally linear but slightly elliptical, the fields cannot cancel
totally by using only geometric decoupling method. In order to achieve higher
decoupling levels, we have designed a full-duplex radio system.
Fig. 1 illustrates the proposed decoupling system design which is
based on geometrical decoupling and analog cancellation. 20 dB of geometrical
decoupling could be achieved by orthogonal placement of Tx and Rx coil planes.
The rest of the isolation was achieved by the full-duplex radio system. This
method subtracts a copy of the transmit signal after phase and amplitude
adjustment by using a fixed delay line and digitally controlled attenuator.
After fine-tuning our setup using a network analyzer, we connected the output
of the setup to the MRI system’s digitizer via an ultra-low noise preamplifier
circuit as shown in Fig 1.
MR signal is acquired using a Siemens 3T Tim Trio Transmit Array
System. A chirp pulse sweeping 32 kHz over 2ms was used to obtain CEA response
of a CuSO4
(aq) phantom with gradients turned off. Using the same RF
pulse a 3D CEA pulse-sequence based on a radial inside-out k-space trajectory
of 40000 spokes was applied with a maximum gradient strength of 12 mT/m for
imaging of a rubber phantom. TR=8 ms, acquisition window bandwidth=465 Hz/px
for 256 points. Total scan time was 4 1/2 min. The acquired data was
post-processed to obtain MR signal response. The remaining Tx leakage in the Rx
signal was removed using a linear fit over the sweep range. The signal was then
deconvolved from the digital version of the Tx signal [3-5]. Bullseye artifact
correction was applied to remove artifacts due to Tx signal imperfections [3].
Results and Discussion
Fig. 2 shows the amount of decoupling achieved by the
implementation of the full duplex radio system. We could achieve more than 100
dB decoupling within a 240 Hz bandwidth outside the MR magnet. Also we achieved
more than 70 dB isolation within 10.3 kHz bandwidth with maximum isolation of
80 dB inside the magnet. Fig. 3 shows the raw-data for CEA with a CuSO4
(aq)
phantom. The oscillations due to the MR signal response are already visible
without any data processing. Note that the first 4 points of the each acquired
radial spoke were neglected in reconstruction since the data was deformed by
the ADC filtering effects. Missing points were interpolated using the
consecutive points. Fig. 4 shows a deconvolved MR signal response from the
rubber phantom and image of it in coronal slice orientation. The proposed
method enables the concurrent excitation and acquisition of MR signal which is
required for the tissues with ultra-short T2* time. The full-duplex radio
system provides a robust decoupling between transmit and receive coils.
Acknowledgements
The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey
(TUBITAK) is gratefully acknowledged for his funding through the project
114E186.References
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