Physical Measurement Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Boulder, Colorado, USA.
Department of Physics and Astronomy, Hunter College, City University of New York, New York, New York, USA.
NMR Biomed. 2025 Jan;38(1):e5281. doi: 10.1002/nbm.5281. Epub 2024 Nov 17.
Tissue-mimicking reference phantoms are indispensable for the development and optimization of magnetic resonance (MR) measurement sequences. Phantoms have greatest utility when they mimic the MR signals arising from tissue physiology; however, many of the properties underlying these signals, including tissue relaxation characteristics, can vary as a function of magnetic field strength. There has been renewed interest in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at field strengths less than 1 T, and phantoms developed for higher field strengths may not be physiologically relevant at these lower fields. This work focuses on developing materials with specific relaxation properties for lower magnetic field strengths. Specifically, we developed recipes that can be used to create synthetic samples for target nuclear magnetic resonance relaxation values for fields between 0.0065 and 0.55 T. and mixing models for agarose-based gels doped with a paramagnetic salt (one of CuSO, GdCl, MnCl, or NiCl) were created using relaxation measurements of synthetic gel samples at 0.0065, 0.064, and 0.55 T. Measurements were evaluated for variability with respect to measurement repeatability and changing synthesis protocol or laboratory temperature. The mixing models were used to identify formulations of agarose and salt composition to approximately mimic the relaxation times of five neurological tissues (blood, cerebrospinal fluid, fat, gray matter, and white matter) at 0.0065, 0.0475, 0.05, 0.064, and 0.55 T. These mimic sample formulations were measured at each field strength. Of these samples, the GdCl and NiCl measurements were closest to the target tissue relaxation times. The GdCl or NiCl mixing model recipes are recommended for creating target relaxation samples below 0.55 T. This work can help development of MRI methods and applications for low-field systems and applications.
组织模拟参考体模对于磁共振(MR)测量序列的开发和优化是不可或缺的。当体模模拟出源自组织生理学的 MR 信号时,它们最具实用性;然而,这些信号所基于的许多特性,包括组织弛豫特性,都可以随磁场强度的变化而变化。人们对磁场强度低于 1T 的磁共振成像(MRI)重新产生了兴趣,而针对更高磁场强度开发的体模在这些较低的磁场中可能与生理状态不相关。这项工作的重点是开发具有特定弛豫特性的材料,以适应较低的磁场强度。具体来说,我们开发了可以用于创建目标核磁共振弛豫值为 0.0065 至 0.55T 的合成样品的配方。并创建了基于琼脂糖的凝胶与顺磁盐(CuSO、GdCl、MnCl 或 NiCl 之一)混合的模型,该模型是通过在 0.0065、0.064 和 0.55T 下对合成凝胶样品的弛豫测量来评估的。评估了测量值的可变性,包括测量重复性和改变合成方案或实验室温度。该混合模型用于确定琼脂糖和盐组成的配方,以近似模拟五种神经组织(血液、脑脊液、脂肪、灰质和白质)在 0.0065、0.0475、0.05、0.064 和 0.55T 的弛豫时间。这些模拟样品配方在每个场强下进行了测量。在这些样品中,GdCl 和 NiCl 的测量结果最接近目标组织弛豫时间。建议在低于 0.55T 的场强下使用 GdCl 或 NiCl 混合模型配方来创建目标弛豫样品。这项工作有助于开发低场系统和应用的 MRI 方法和应用。