Inverse problem for in vivo NMR spatial localization
The basic physical problem of NMR spatial localization is considered. To study diseased sites, one must solve the problem of adequately localizing the NMR signal. We formulate this as an inverse problem. As the NMR Bloch equations determine the motion of nuclear spins in applied magnetic fields, a theoretical study is undertaken to answer the question of how to design magnetic field configurations to achieve these localized excited spin populations. Because of physical constraints in the production of the relevant radiofrequency fields, the problem factors into a temporal one and a spatial one. We formulate the temporal problem as a nonlinear transformation, called the Bloch Transform, from the rf input to the magnetization response. In trying to invert this transformation, both linear (for the Fourier Transform) and nonlinear (for the Bloch Transform) modes of radiofrequency excitation are constructed. The spatial problem is essentially a statics problem for the Maxwell equations of electromagnetism, as the wavelengths of the radiation considered are on the order of ten meters, and so propagation effects are negligible. In the general case, analytic solutions are unavailable, and so the methods of computer simulation are used to map the rf field spatial profiles. Numerical experiments are also performed to verify the theoretical analysis, and experimental confirmation of the theory is carried out on the 0.5 Tesla IBM/Oxford Imaging Spectrometer at the LBL NMR Medical Imaging Facility. While no explicit inverse is constructed to ''solve'' this problem, the combined theoretical/numerical analysis is validated experimentally, justifying the approximations made. 56 refs., 31 figs.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Berkeley Lab., CA (USA)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC03-76SF00098
- OSTI ID:
- 6258247
- Report Number(s):
- LBL-20682; ON: DE86006716
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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