title: High-resolution MREIT using low imaging currents.
abstract: Magnetic Resonance Electrical Impedance Tomography (MREIT) produces cross-sectional images of a conductivity distribution inside the human body. We use an MRI scanner as a tool to measure induced internal magnetic flux density distributions subject to externally injected currents. Recent experimental MREIT studies demonstrated conductivity image reconstructions of in vivo animal and human subjects with a few millimeter pixel size using 3 mA current injections. To enhance the clinical applicability of MREIT especially in neuroimaging applications, it is necessary to develop high-resolution MREIT techniques using low imaging currents. In this study, we demonstrate the capability of MREIT to perform conductivity imaging with less than 1 mA injection currents. The experimental results using a 3 T MRI scanner with a multi-echo ICNE pulse sequence and high-performance RF coils demonstrate that we can distinguish two different anomalies in reconstructed conductivity images with less than 1 mm pixel sizes. We plan to apply the developed experimental method to in vivo head imaging of small animals to investigate the feasibility of functional MREIT as a new neuro-imaging method.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Kyung HeeUniversity, Gyeonggi-do 446-701, Korea. ejwoo@ khu.ac.kr
authors.forename: Eung Je
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Woo
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods*; D002645:Chickens; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging / Q000379:methods; D004553:Electric Conductivity; D017097:Electric Impedance; D004566:Electrodes; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy / Q000379:methods; D008959:Models, Neurological; D059906:Neuroimaging / Q000379:methods*; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D013552:Swine; D014054:Tomography / Q000379:methods*