MRI: Essentials for Innovative Technologies

MRI: Essentials for Innovative Technologies describes novel methods to improve magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) beyond its current limitations. It proposes smart encoding methods and acquisition sequences to deal with frequency displacement due to residual static magnetic field inhomogeneity, motion, and undersampling. Requiring few or no hardware modifications, these speculative methods offer building blocks that can be combined and refined to overcome barriers to more advanced MRI applications, such as real-time imaging and open systems.

After a concise review of basic mathematical tools and the physics of MRI, the book describes the severe artifacts produced by conventional MRI techniques. It first tackles magnetic field inhomogeneities, outlining conventional solutions as well as a completely different approach based on time-varying gradients and temporal frequency variation coding (acceleration). The book then proposes two innovative acquisition methods for reducing acquisition time, motion, and undersampling artifacts: adaptive acquisition and compressed sensing. The concluding chapter lays out the author’s predictions for the future of MRI.

For some of the proposed solutions, this is the first time the reported results have been published. Where experimental data is preliminary or unavailable, the book presents only numerical solutions. Offering insight into emerging MRI techniques, this book provides readers with specialized knowledge to help them design better acquisition sequences and select appropriate correction methods.

The author’s proceeds from the sale of this book will be entirely donated to Bambin Gesù Children’s Hospital in Rome.

Giuseppe Placidi is an assistant professor in Computer Science in the Department of Health Sciences at the University of L’Aquila. He has authored or co-authored more than 55 papers published in international scientific journals and books, 60 refereed conferences proceedings, and seven patents. He is a member of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, the IEEE Computer Society, the Italian Group for Electron Spin Resonance (GIRSE), and the Italian Group for Physics of Matter (INFM). Dr. Placidi is also a reviewer for several scientific journals on medical physics and imaging. His research interests include MRI, MRI acquisition sequences, image reconstruction, image analysis, image compression, and information theory.

For more information, see www.giuseppeplacidi.org.