Browsing by Author "Bottomley, P. A."

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Open Access
Absolute temperature monitoring using RF radiometry in the MRI scanner
(Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, 2006) El-Sharkawy, A.-M. M.; Sotiriadis, P. P.; Bottomley, P. A.; Atalar, Ergin
Temperature detection using microwave radiometry has proven value for noninvasively measuring the absolute temperature of tissues inside the body. However, current clinical radiometers operate in the gigahertz range, which limits their depth of penetration. We have designed and built a noninvasive radiometer which operates at radio frequencies (64 MHz) with ∼100-kHz bandwidth, using an external RF loop coil as a thermal detector. The core of the radiometer is an accurate impedance measurement and automatic matching circuit of 0.05 Ω accuracy to compensate for any load variations. The radiometer permits temperature measurements with accuracy of ±0.1°K, over a tested physiological range of 28°C-40 °C in saline phantoms whose electric properties match those of tissue. Because 1.5 T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners also operate at 64 MHz, we demonstrate the feasibility of integrating our radiometer with an MRI scanner to monitor RF power deposition and temperature dosimetry, obtaining coarse, spatially resolved, absolute thermal maps in the physiological range. We conclude that RF radiometry offers promise as a direct, noninvasive method of monitoring tissue heating during MRI studies and thereby providing an independent means of verifying patient-safe operation. Other potential applications include titration of hyper- and hypo-therapies.
Open Access
Interventional MRI: tapering improves the distal sensitivity of the loopless antenna
(Wiley, 2010) Qian, D.; El-Sharkawy, A. M. M.; Atalar, Ergin; Bottomley, P. A.
The "loopless antenna" is an interventional MRI detector consisting of a tuned coaxial cable and an extended inner conductor or "whip". A limitation is the poor sensitivity afforded at, and immediately proximal to, its distal end, which is exacerbated by the extended whip length when the whip is uniformly insulated. It is shown here that tapered insulation dramatically improves the distal sensitivity of the loopless antenna by pushing the current sensitivity toward the tip. The absolute signal-to-noise ratio is numerically computed by the electromagnetic method-of-moments for three resonant 3-T antennae with no insulation, uniform insulation, and with linearly tapered insulation. The analysis shows that tapered insulation provides an ∼400% increase in signal-to-noise ratio in trans-axial planes 1 cm from the tip and a 16-fold increase in the sensitive area as compared to an equivalent, uniformly insulated antenna. These findings are directly confirmed by phantom experiments and by MRI of an aorta specimen. The results demonstrate that numerical electromagnetic signal-tonoise ratio analysis can accurately predict the loopless detector's signal-to-noise ratio and play a central role in optimizing its design. The manifold improvement in distal signal-to-noise ratio afforded by redistributing the insulation should improve the loopless antenna's utility for interventional MRI.
Open Access
Monitoring and correcting spatio-temporal variations of the MR scanner’s static magnetic field
(Springer, 2006) El-Sharkawy, A. M.; Schär, M.; Bottomley, P. A.; Atalar, Ergin
The homogeneity and stability of the static magnetic field are of paramount importance to the accuracy of MR procedures that are sensitive to phase errors and magnetic field inhomogeneity. It is shown that intense gradient utilization in clinical horizontal-bore superconducting MR scanners of three different vendors results in main magnetic fields that vary on a long time scale both spatially and temporally by amounts of order 0.8-2.5 ppm. The observed spatial changes have linear and quadratic variations that are strongest along the z direction. It is shown that the effect of such variations is of sufficient magnitude to completely obfuscate thermal phase shifts measured by proton-resonance frequency-shift MR thermometry and certainly affect accuracy. In addition, field variations cause signal loss and line-broadening in MR spectroscopy, as exemplified by a fourfold line-broadening of metabolites over the course of a 45 min human brain study. The field variations are consistent with resistive heating of the magnet structures. It is concluded that correction strategies are required to compensate for these spatial and temporal field drifts for phase-sensitive MR protocols. It is demonstrated that serial field mapping and phased difference imaging correction protocols can substantially compensate for the drift effects observed in the MR thermometry and spectroscopy experiments.
Open Access
RF radiometery sensor sensitivity and detection profile
(IEEE, 2008-11) El-Sharkawy, A.-M.M.; Sotiriadis, P. P.; Bottomley, P. A.; Atalar, Ergin
Temperature sensing using microwave radiometry has proven value for non-invasively measuring the absolute temperature of tissues inside the human body. However, current clinical radiometers operate in GHz or infrared frequency ranges; this limits their depth of penetration since the human body is not "transparent" at these frequencies. To address this problem, we have previously designed and built an advanced, near-field radiometer operating at VHF frequencies (64MHz) with a ∼100 KHz bandwidth. The radiometer has performed accurate temperature measurements to within ±0.1°C, over a tested physiological range of 28-40°C in saline phantoms whose electric properties match those of human tissue. In this work we analyze radiofrequency (RF) coil designs suitable for RF Radiometry. We investigate the coil profile sensitivity to look where temperature information is coming from and the depth of penetration associated with the receiver used. We also look into the virtues of using multi-turn coils versus single loop coils. We conclude that by using multi-turn coils the received noise signal is more sensitive to sample noise and temperature can be estimated more accurately especially with the use of smaller receivers. © 2008 IEEE.