Structural MRI

MRI · reads

Structural MRI is nuclear magnetic resonance imaging: a strong static magnetic field lines up the protons in the body's water, and a brief radio-frequency pulse tips them out of alignment. The tipped protons precess, and their changing magnetic flux induces a signal in a receiver coil. The timing and strength of this signal depend on tissue-specific relaxation times and on the density of water protons in the tissue. This gives image contrast between tissues in T1-weighted, T2-weighted and FLAIR scans, with FLAIR also suppressing the cerebrospinal fluid signal.

Spatial resolution

290 µm (point spread)

Temporal resolution

1.73 min (sample interval)

Field of view

1.23 L (acquired volume)

Reads

T1-weighted MR signal (longitudinal relaxation); T2-weighted MR signal (transverse relaxation); T2*-weighted MR signal (susceptibility); proton-density / water-related tissue signal

Destructive?

non-destructive

Prerequisites

none beyond ordinary participation

Theoretical spatial resolution

12–37 µm

Theoretical temporal resolution

100 ms (sample interval)

Theoretical field of view

1.23 L (reachable envelope)

Description

Structural MRI uses nuclear magnetic resonance: a static field aligns protons and an RF pulse perturbs them. Precessing transverse magnetization changes magnetic flux, inducing a receiver-coil signal whose timing and amplitude reflect tissue-dependent T1/T2 relaxation, creating contrast in T1w (e.g. MP-RAGE), T2w and T2-FLAIR.

Download the dataset (JSON, described by its JSON Schema).

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