Advances in Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Magnetic Resonance Imaging has rapidly become the diagnostic imaging method of choice in many clinical situations. More than other medical imaging modalities, MRI involves so many parameters, that its full clinical potential at present is certainly far from being realized. MRI research is still very active, with progress steadily reported. The articles in this volume report on work from the leading edge of this new technology. Three deal with novel pulse-gradient sequences for chemical shift imaging, steady state free precession, and selective excitation; one with the potential use of metabolically responsive contrast agents; and two with the ever increasing role of computers in MRI, in parameter selection and in simulation.

NMR chemical shift imaging literally adds a dimension to the potential clinical utility of Magnetic Resonance. Whereas an ordinary imaging procedure assigns a scalar (usually a grey level) to each voxel in the image, here the goal is to assign to each voxel either a complete NMR spectrum or a desired portion of the spectrum. In Chapter 1, Z. H. Cho and H. W. Park discuss various methods for achieving these goals. They also discuss imaging artifacts due to chemical shifts, magnetic susceptibilities, and static field inhomogeneities, and correction methods for dealing with them.