DDF and iMQC News: May 2005

Functional magnetic resonance imaging with intermolecular double-quantum coherences at 3 T

Andreas Schäfer, Thies H. Jochimsen, Harald E. Möller

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) based on the selection of intermolecular double-quantum coherences (iDQC) was performed with a standard birdcage coil at 3 T in a group of normal human volunteers. Suppression of spurious signal contributions from unwanted coherence-transfer pathways was achieved by combining a two-step phase cycle and a long repetition time of 5 s. A gradient-recalled echo iDQC sequence (echo time, T_E = 80 ms) yielded robust activation with a visual paradigm. Maximum z-scores were about half of those observed with conventional blood-oxygen level dependent fMRI, whereas the functional signal change increased by more than a factor of 5. No activation was obtained with a spin-echo iDQC sequence (T_E = 160 ms), in which dephasing accumulated during the evolution period was fully rephased by an appropriate delay time. It is hypothesized that substantial inherent diffusion weighting of the iDQC technique efficiently suppresses intravascular contributions to the functional contrast. A consistent quantitative explanation of the observed amount of signal change currently remains speculative. Magn Reson Med 53:1402-1408, 2005. © 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Dipolar field effects described by boson operators techniques: The case of intermolecular multiple-quantum coherences in liquids

W. Nosel, T. Gili, S. Capuani and B. Maraviglia
Chemical Physics Letters
Volume 406, Issues 4-6 , 2 May 2005, Pages 452-456

Dipolar couplings between macroscopically distant spins in solution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) are treated. We propose a novel technique to calculate the intermolecular multiple-quantum coherences (iMQCs) based on a boson operators approach. The choice of an annihilation and creation operator basis set allows us to produce a general expression of the NMR signal depending on local inhomogeneities of magnetic field. The general expression we derive fits into the well known background of iMQCs signal descriptions [J. Jeener, J. Chem. Phys. 112 (2000) 5091] and turns into the conventional quantum-mechanical Warren formulation [S. Lee, W. Richter, S. Vathyam, W.S. Warren, J. Chem. Phys. 105 (1996) 874] by means of appropriate approximations.

Application of a Fourier-based method for rapid calculation of field inhomogeneity due to spatial variation of magnetic susceptibility

J.P. Marques, R. Bowtell

Inhomogeneous B₀-magnetic fields generate distortion in magnetic resonance images, particularly those produced using echo planar imaging, and are responsible for signal reduction due to intravoxel dephasing in gradient echo experiments. Such effects increase in magnitude in proportionality with the static field strength, and with the growing use of high-field (3 T and above) systems in medical imaging, it is increasingly important to be able to quantify field inhomogeneities. Here, we describe the implementation and use of a method for rapidly calculating frequency shifts due to spatially varying magnetic susceptibility that is based on an approach previously used to calculate long-range dipolar field effects. The method relies on a simple expression that relates the three-dimensional Fourier transforms of the magnetization distribution and the field, and can naturally include the effect of the sphere of Lorentz. It has been used to evaluate field inhomogeneity in the head due to the variation of magnetic susceptibility with tissue type and to calculate the change in field inhomogeneity that occurs due to small rotations of the head. In addition, this approach has been used to simulate the effect of lung volume changes in generating respiration induced resonant offsets in the brain. © Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Concepts Magn Reson Part B (Magn Reson Engineering) 25B: 65-78, 2005