The history from the birth and discovery of MRI over the past years and eras is such an interesting story to tell from its discovery when its fundamentals originated as NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) and its leaps forward have saved thousands of lives and yielded 5 Nobel Prizes in the process. [12] [15]
The story of the origins of MRI begins over 130 years ago whom can only be described as one of the most amazing pioneers in physics today. Nikola Tesla discovered the phenomena of Rotating Magnetic Fields. This is when a magnetic field that rotates around a central position along some axis with opposing poles rotates as it processes. From this work and other fundamental work in 1960 the SI unit for Magnetic Flux was named in his honour. [14] …show more content…
From this work he made a massive discovery that using a varying Radio Frequency one can determine the difference between cancerous tissue and healthy fully functional tissue as cancerous tissue is denser than healthy tissue as it contains a higher level of water per volume than comparative health tissue. This was the real first medical application of NMR into medical purposes. From this over the next decade it lead to the production of the first MRI machine and test and the production of the first ever internal image of a human body in 1973 by Paul Lauterbaur and his team. All these developments over countless decades has led to the ability to diagnose and treat cancer earlier and has saved thousands of lives in the process. [14] [15]
2.2 Basic Processes of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
As previously mentioned MRI is such a pioneering imaging technique it has aided in the diagnosis of early health conditions and aliments and helped to save millions of lives globally. The basic fundamentals of the principles of MRI use some basic physics to more complex quantum processes. The MRI scanner comes in a variety of types from short bore to large bore indicating the size of the scanner unit itself. Long bore refers to the width of …show more content…
Since the human body is largely hydrogen up to 80% according to some sources the main principles of MRI are based on this fact. The patient or sample being examined lies on the scanner and goes into the examination area as can be seen in Figure 1. Firstly when the sample or patient is inserted into the scanner the Main Magnetic Coil (see Figure 2) creates a uniform magnetic Field across the whole body of whatever is being examined. The purpose of this large external magnetic field which is normally around (0.2 to 3 Tesla) in strength is to align all the Hydrogen atoms since Hydrogen is made up of a single proton respectively. So the Main Magnetic Coil aligns all the Hydrogen protons in the body into one direction or plane i.e. to polarise the spin into one direction since all the atoms precess about their own axis. Once all the Hydrogen atoms are aligned along the same axis the Varying Coils labelled X, Y and Magnetic Z Coils in Figure 2 apply a second magnetic field of similar magnitude to the uniform field at a specific target location that is being investigated. The purpose of this is that it will flip the spins of a specific number of Hydrogen atoms at a specific location to oppose the uniform Magnetic field. The Radio Frequency (RF) Transmitter and receiver then sends a burst of appropriately tuned RF pulse to the target area under
The story of the origins of MRI begins over 130 years ago whom can only be described as one of the most amazing pioneers in physics today. Nikola Tesla discovered the phenomena of Rotating Magnetic Fields. This is when a magnetic field that rotates around a central position along some axis with opposing poles rotates as it processes. From this work and other fundamental work in 1960 the SI unit for Magnetic Flux was named in his honour. [14] …show more content…
From this work he made a massive discovery that using a varying Radio Frequency one can determine the difference between cancerous tissue and healthy fully functional tissue as cancerous tissue is denser than healthy tissue as it contains a higher level of water per volume than comparative health tissue. This was the real first medical application of NMR into medical purposes. From this over the next decade it lead to the production of the first MRI machine and test and the production of the first ever internal image of a human body in 1973 by Paul Lauterbaur and his team. All these developments over countless decades has led to the ability to diagnose and treat cancer earlier and has saved thousands of lives in the process. [14] [15]
2.2 Basic Processes of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
As previously mentioned MRI is such a pioneering imaging technique it has aided in the diagnosis of early health conditions and aliments and helped to save millions of lives globally. The basic fundamentals of the principles of MRI use some basic physics to more complex quantum processes. The MRI scanner comes in a variety of types from short bore to large bore indicating the size of the scanner unit itself. Long bore refers to the width of …show more content…
Since the human body is largely hydrogen up to 80% according to some sources the main principles of MRI are based on this fact. The patient or sample being examined lies on the scanner and goes into the examination area as can be seen in Figure 1. Firstly when the sample or patient is inserted into the scanner the Main Magnetic Coil (see Figure 2) creates a uniform magnetic Field across the whole body of whatever is being examined. The purpose of this large external magnetic field which is normally around (0.2 to 3 Tesla) in strength is to align all the Hydrogen atoms since Hydrogen is made up of a single proton respectively. So the Main Magnetic Coil aligns all the Hydrogen protons in the body into one direction or plane i.e. to polarise the spin into one direction since all the atoms precess about their own axis. Once all the Hydrogen atoms are aligned along the same axis the Varying Coils labelled X, Y and Magnetic Z Coils in Figure 2 apply a second magnetic field of similar magnitude to the uniform field at a specific target location that is being investigated. The purpose of this is that it will flip the spins of a specific number of Hydrogen atoms at a specific location to oppose the uniform Magnetic field. The Radio Frequency (RF) Transmitter and receiver then sends a burst of appropriately tuned RF pulse to the target area under