Magnetic particle imaging (MPI) is a promising new imaging method capable of determining the spatial distribution of magnetic nanoparticle tracers in real-time. By means of a time-varying magnetic field the non-linear response of the nanoparticle tracer is observed. Under constraints of an additional gradient field with a field field point (FFP) an image is reconstructed from the resulting spectrum. Our magnetic particle imaging scanner covers a field of view of about 22×22×15 mm³. It features a bore size of 30 mm, large enough to fit a ventilated mouse under laboratory conditions. Imaging plastic or bio-compatible phantoms, we were studying the properties of the MPI system function and its dependence on imaging parameters. It is shown that the required reference scan can be significantly simplified and that an improvement in image quality can be achieved by the use of a hybrid approach with model-based and sampled data points for the system matrix.

Date Published: 29 March 2013
PDF: 8 pages
Proc. SPIE 8672, Medical Imaging 2013: Biomedical Applications in Molecular, Structural, and Functional Imaging, 86721B (29 March 2013); doi: 10.1117/12.2006392

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 8672:
Medical Imaging 2013: Biomedical Applications in Molecular, Structural, and Functional Imaging
John B. Weaver; Robert C. Molthen, Editor(s)