Power-Loss Optimized Field-Free Line Generation for Magnetic Particle Imaging

Magnetic Particle Imaging (MPI) is a novel medical imaging technology that is able to acquire the distribution of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles in real-time with high spatial and temporal resolution. Spatial encoding is realized by a magnetic field configuration generating a field-free point (FFP). Therefore, the FFP is moved through the field of view (FOV). However, at low particle concentrations the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) decreases and therefore image quality worsens. An enhanced encoding scheme uses instead of the FFP the concept of a field-free line (FFL), whereby a gain of sensitivity of one order of magnitude can be realized. Simulation studies approximate power consumption to a minimum and improve field homogeneity with the result that fast Radon-based reconstruction techniques are feasible. On the basis of these studies, this book describes the manufacturing of an optimized scanner topology realizing an excellent field quality with the help of customized curved rectangular coils. Furthermore, the power loss is efficiently minimized.