• Proceedings of the KOSOMBE Conference
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• v.1993 no.05
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• pp.21-24
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• 1993

The experimental results of visual stimulation with the tailored RF pulse are reported. Tailored RF pulse is used for the susceptibility effect imaging. Around 25% signal change of visual cortex area is detected during photic stimulation. Interestingly, with the tailored RF pulse, the signal intensity of visual cortex is deceased during photic stimulation. It is, however, increased with normal $T_2$ weighted imaging. The comparison between normal $T_2$ weighted imaging and the tailored RF pulse imaging are performed with 4T NMR system and the results with human volunteer are also presented.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.431-438
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• 1995

Functional imaging based on the susceptibility only is achieved by separation of the susceptibility effect from the mixture of flow effect by use of a tailored RF pulse in conjunction with gradient echo sequence. Using the tailored RF pulse the susceptibility enhanced functional imaging appears to be explicitly related to the deoxygenation processes, while in the conventional gradient echo technique functional contrast on $T2^{*}$ effect images appear to be mixed with a significant fraction of blood flow (in- flow) signals of both arterial as well as venous bloods due to the nature of the fast sequence employed with the gradient echo technique. In this paper, using the tailored RF pulses, one can unambiguously separate the susceptibility and flow effects in functional imaging. Since the signal obtained can be made sufficiently high and represents oxygenation process more accurately, it seems possible to study quantitative oxygen metabolisms in brain function hitherto difficult to do with other gradient echo techniques.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.55-66
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• 1994

After proving home-made imaging pulse sequences including tailored RF pulse by phantom, susceptibility-contrast-enhanced MR venograms of cat brain were obtained using tailored RF gradient-echo(TRGE) method. Sagittal MR imaging of the cat brain obtained by TRGE technique shows several veins, for example, dorsal sagittal sinus, straight sinus, vein of corpus callosum and internal cerebral vein, etc., compared with cats anatomical figure. Tailored RF waveform was generated by PASCAL language in ASPECT 3000 computer(Switzland, Bruker). Rectangular-shaped slice profile with bi-linear ramp function as phase distribution in the slice, at which maximum value was 2$\pi$, was fourier transformed to make tailored RF pulse. Experimental MR imaging parameters were TR/TE=205/10 msec, slice thickness TH=7mm, maxtrix size=256$\times$256, in-plane resolution=0.62$\times$0.31mm$^2$, and field of view(FOV)=8cm for both conventional gradient-echo(GE) imaging and TRGE imaging techniques.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.243-251
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• 1997

In this paper, we have reported two interesting flow effects arising in the TRFGE sequence using water flow phantom. First, we have shown that the TRFGE sequence is indeed not affected by "in-flow" effect from the unsaturated spins flowing into the imaging slice. Second, the enhancement of "in-plane flow" signal in the readout gradient direction was observed when the TRFGE sequence was used without flow compensation. These two results have many interesting applications in MR imaging other than fMRI. Results obtained were also compared with the results obtained by the conventional gradient echo(CGE) imaging. Experiments were performed at 4.7T MRI/S animal system (Biospec, BRUKER, Switzerland). A cylindrical phantom was made using acryl and a vinyl tube was inserted at the center(Fig. 1). The whole cylinder was filled with water doped with $MnCl_2$ and the center tube was filled with saline which flows in parallel to the main magnetic field along the tube. Tailored RF pulse was designed to have quadratic ($z^2$) phase distribution in slice direction(z). Imaging parameters were TR/TE = 55~85/10msec, flip angle = $30^{\circ}$, slice thickness = 2mm, matrix size = 256${\times}$256, and FOV= 10cm. In-flow effect : Axial images were obtained with and without flow using the CGE and TRFGE sequences, respectively. The flow direction was perpendicular to the image slice. In-plane flow : Sagittal images were obtained with and without flow using the TRGE sequence. The readout gradient was applied in parallel to the flow direction. We have observed that the "in-flow" effect did not affect the TRFGE image, while "in-plane flow" running along the readout gradient direction enhanced the signal in the TRFGE sequence when flow compensation gradient scheme was not used.

• Proceedings of the KOSOMBE Conference
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• v.1992 no.05
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• pp.92-97
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• 1992

The pulsatile nature of blood flow makes artefacts in 2D Fourier transform image. Spatial presaturation is known to be effective in eliminating flow artefacts when the spin echo acquisition is employed. However. this method requires additional RF pulse and spoiling gradient for presaturation. In this paper a new flow saturation technique which does not require additional saturation-RF and gradient is proposed. The proposed technique is equivalent to the existing saturation technique but the elimination of the flow component is achieved by a pair of tailored $90^{\circ}-180^{\circ}$ RF pulses in tile spin echo sequence. By use of two tailored RF pulses with opposite phase polarity, a linear phase gradient is generated for those moving materials and consequently all the spins of moving materials become dephased thereby no signal is observable. Computer simulations and experimental results obtained using both a phantom and a human volunteer with a 2.0 T whole body system are also presented.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.209-216
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• 1995

Recently, a new tailored RF gradient echo (TRFGE) sequence was reported. This technique not only enhances the magnetic susceptibility effect but also allows us to measure local changes in brain oxygenation. In this study, a phantom and cat brain experiments were performed on a 4.7 Tesla BIQSPEC (BRUKER) instrument with a 26 cm gradient system. We have demonstrated that the signal intensity (SI) of the TRFGE sequence varies according to the concentration of susceptibility contrast agent. Three capillary tubes with different concentrations of Gd-DTPA (0.01, 0.05, 0.1 mMOI/l) were placed at the middle of a cylindrical water phantom. Using both TRFGE and conventional gradient echo (CGE) sequences, phantom images of the slices which contain all three tubes were obtained. For the animal experiment, cats were anesthetized and ventilated using halotane (0.5%) and a $N_2O/ O_2$ mixture (2:1), and blood pressure and heart rate were monitored and kept normal. For the observation of tue first pass of Gd- DTPA, imaging was started at t = 0. At t = 8 ~ 12s, 0.2 mMol/Kg Gd-DTPA was manually injected in the femoral vein. The imaging parameters were TRITE = 25/10 msec, flip angle = $30^{\circ}$, FOV = 10cm, image matrix size = $128{\times}128$ with 64 phase encodings and the image data acquisition window was 10 msec. SI-time curves were then obtained from a series of 30 images which were collected at 2 sec intervals using both CGE and TRFGE pulse sequences before, during, and following the contrast injection.

• Proceedings of the KOSOMBE Conference
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• v.1990 no.11
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• pp.19-23
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• 1990

A new technique for reducing the susceptibility artifact in gradient echo imaging which uses a tailored RF pulse is proposed. It is applied to the case of imaging where artifacts and distortions arise due to the high local magnetic field inhomogeneity i. e., the susceptibility. The signal loss and void phenomena due to susceptibility in a voxel are studied and a correction method using a tailored RF pulse is proposed. Applications of this method in imaging are given and experimental results obtained using an human volunteer with a 2.0 T KAIS NMR system are presented.

• Investigative Magnetic Resonance Imaging
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.27-35
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• 2016

Purpose: Among RF pulses, a sinc pulse is typically used for slice selection due to its frequency-selective feature. When a sinc pulse is implemented in practice, it needs to be apodized to avoid truncation artifacts at the expense of broadening the transition region of the excited-band profile. Here a sinc pulse tailored by a new apodization function is proposed that produces a sharper transition region with well suppression of truncation artifacts in comparison with conventional tailored sinc pulses. A multiband pulse designed using this newly apodized sinc pulse is also suggested inheriting the better performance of the newly apodized sinc pulse. Materials and Methods: A new apodization function is introduced to taper a sinc pulse, playing a role to slightly shift the first zero-crossing of a tailored sinc pulse from the peak of the main lobe and thereby producing a narrower bandwidth as well as a sharper pass-band in the excitation profile. The newly apodized sinc pulse was also utilized to design a multiband pulse which inherits the performance of its constituent. Performances of the proposed sinc pulse and the multiband pulse generated with it were demonstrated by Bloch simulation and phantom imaging. Results: In both simulations and experiments, the newly apodized sinc pulse yielded a narrower bandwidth and a sharper transition of the pass-band profile with a desirable degree of side-lobe suppression than the commonly used Hanning-windowed sinc pulse. The multiband pulse designed using the newly apodized sinc pulse also showed the better performance in multi-slice excitation than the one designed with the Hanning-windowed sinc pulse. Conclusion: The new tailored sinc pulse proposed here provides a better performance in slice (or slab) selection than conventional tailored sinc pulses. Thanks to the availability of analytical expression, it can also be utilized for multiband pulse design with great flexibility and readiness in implementation, transferring its better performance.

• Proceedings of the KOSOMBE Conference
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• v.1992 no.05
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• pp.85-91
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• 1992

In MRI, an image contrast can be developed as a result of the susceptibility effect if an object has paramagnetic substances. This is mainly due to the non-uniform phase distribution or linear gradient developed by the magnetic susceptibility within a voxel, which in turn reduces the signal intensity; e.g., spin phases are dephased and thereby cancel each other resulting in a reduced signal. In this paper, a new concept for manipulating the susceptibility effect through the use of tailored RF pulses is proposed. As potential applications of the method, two different types of tailored RF pulses are introduced: one for susceptibility artifact correction and the other for contrast enhancement. The latter, for example, can be applied to angiography utilizing the paramagnetic property of deoxygenated blood. Both a theoretical study of the method and experimental results are reported.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.165-172
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• 1999

An enhancement technique for phase dependent image contrast in MRI(Manetic Resonance Imaging) is proposed. Because the method can enhance inherent phase contrast it is suited for susceptibility imaging and flow imaging where intravoxel phase is a source of image contrast. In this paper, applying external phase in the voxel enhances phase contrast. The external phase is generated by a tailored RF pulse so that one can control the phase contrast and even produces phase only contrast. Signal intensity due to both inherent phase and external phase is analyzed and the proposed technique is applied to a susceptibility effect only imaging and a flow effect only imaging. To verify the proposed technique, computer simulations are performed and their results are given.