Encoding methods for B1(+) mapping in parallel transmit systems at ultra high field.

Parallel radiofrequency (RF) transmission, either in the form of RF shimming or pulse design, has been proposed as a solution to the B1(+) inhomogeneity problem in ultra high field magnetic resonance imaging. As a prerequisite, accurate B1(+) maps from each of the available transmit channels are required. In this work, four different encoding methods for B1(+) mapping, namely 1-channel-on, all-channels-on-except-1, all-channels-on-1-inverted and Fourier phase encoding, were evaluated using dual refocusing acquisition mode (DREAM) at 9.4 T. Fourier phase encoding was demonstrated in both phantom and in vivo to be the least susceptible to artefacts caused by destructive RF interference at 9.4 T. Unlike the other two interferometric encoding schemes, Fourier phase encoding showed negligible dependency on the initial RF phase setting and therefore no prior B1(+) knowledge is required. Fourier phase encoding also provides a flexible way to increase the number of measurements to increase SNR, and to allow further reduction of artefacts by weighted decoding. These advantages of Fourier phase encoding suggest that it is a good choice for B1(+) mapping in parallel transmit systems at ultra high field.

Methods for pulse artefact reduction: experiences with EEG data recorded at 9.4 T static magnetic field.

BACKGROUND: The feasibility of recording electroencephalography (EEG) at ultra-high static magnetic fields up to 9.4 T was recently demonstrated and is expected to be incorporated into functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies at 9.4 T. Correction of the pulse artefact (PA) is a significant challenge since its amplitude is proportional to the strength of the magnetic field in which EEG is recorded. NEW METHOD: We conducted a study in which different PA correction methods were applied to EEG data recorded inside a 9.4 T scanner in order to retrieve visual P100 and auditory P300 evoked potentials. We explored different PA reduction methods, including the optimal basis set (OBS) method as well as objective and subjective component rejection using independent component analysis (ICA). RESULTS: ICA followed by objective rejection of components is optimal for retrieving visual P100 and auditory P300 from EEG data recorded inside the scanner. COMPARISON WITH EXISTING METHODS: Previous studies suggest that OBS or OBS followed by ICA are optimal for retrieving evoked potentials at 3T. In our EEG data recorded at 9.4 T OBS performed alone was not fully optimal for the identification of evoked potentials. OBS followed by ICA was partially effective. CONCLUSIONS: In this study ICA has been shown to be an important tool for correcting the PA in EEG data recorded at 9.4 T, particularly when automated rejection of components is performed.

Convex optimisation of gradient and shim coil winding patterns.

Gradient and shim coils were designed using boundary element methods with convex optimisation. The convex optimisation framework permits the prototyping of many different cost functions and constraints, for example ℓ(p)-norms of the current density. Several examples of gradients and shims were designed and simulated to demonstrate this, as well as to investigate the behaviour of new cost functions. A mixture of ℓ(1)- and ℓ(∞)-norms of the current density, when used as a regularisation term in the field synthesis problem, was found to produce coils with bunches of equally spaced windings that do not take up all of the available surface. This is thought to be beneficial in the design of coils that will be manufactured from wire with a fixed cross-section.

Theoretical design of gradient coils with minimum power dissipation: accounting for the discretization of current density into coil windings.

Gradient coil windings are typically constructed from either variable width copper tracks or fixed width wires. Excessive power dissipation within these windings during gradient coil operation limits the maximum drive current or duty cycle of the coil. It is common to design gradient coils in terms of a continuous minimum power current density and to perform a discretization to obtain the locations of the coil tracks or wires. However, the existence of finite gaps between these conductors and a maximum conductor width leads to an underestimation of coil resistance when calculated using the continuous current density. Put equivalently, the actual current density within the tracks or wires is higher than that used in the optimization and this departure results in suboptimal coil designs. In this work, a mapping to an effective current density is proposed to account for these effects and provide the correct contribution to the power dissipation. This enables the design of gradient coils that are genuinely optimal in terms of power minimization, post-discretization. The method was applied to the theoretical design of a variety of small x- and z-gradient coils for use in small animal imaging and coils for human head imaging. Computer-driven comparisons were made between coils designed with and without the current density mapping, in terms of simulated power dissipation. For coils to be built using variable width tracks, the method provides slight reductions in power dissipation in most cases and substantial gains only in cases where the minimum separation between track centre-lines is less than twice the gap size. However, for coils to be built using fixed width wires, very considerable reductions in dissipated power are consistently attainable (up to 60%) when compared to standard approaches of coil optimization.

Minimum maximum temperature gradient coil design.

Ohmic heating is a serious problem in gradient coil operation. A method is presented for redesigning cylindrical gradient coils to operate at minimum peak temperature, while maintaining field homogeneity and coil performance. To generate these minimaxT coil windings, an existing analytic method for simulating the spatial temperature distribution of single layer gradient coils is combined with a minimax optimization routine based on sequential quadratic programming. Simulations are provided for symmetric and asymmetric gradient coils that show considerable improvements in reducing maximum temperature over existing methods. The winding patterns of the minimaxT coils were found to be heavily dependent on the assumed thermal material properties and generally display an interesting "fish-eye" spreading of windings in the dense regions of the coil. Small prototype coils were constructed and tested for experimental validation and these demonstrate that with a reasonable estimate of material properties, thermal performance can be improved considerably with negligible change to the field error or standard figures of merit.

Minimax current density gradient coils: analysis of coil performance and heating.

Standard gradient coils are designed by minimizing the inductance or resistance for an acceptable level of gradient field nonlinearity. Recently, a new method was proposed to minimize the maximum value of the current density in a coil additionally. The stated aim of that method was to increase the minimum wire spacing and to reduce the peak temperature in a coil for fixed efficiency. These claims are tested in this study with experimental measurements of magnetic field and temperature as well as simulations of the performance of many coils. Experimental results show a 90% increase in minimum wire spacing and 40% reduction in peak temperature for equal coil efficiency and field linearity. Simulations of many more coils indicate increase in minimum wire spacing of between 50 and 340% for the coils studied here. This method is shown to be able to increase coil efficiency when constrained by minimum wire spacing rather than switching times or total power dissipation. This increase in efficiency could be used to increase gradient strength, duty cycle, or buildability.