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Review of key concepts in magnetic resonance physics

  • Minisymposium: MR techniques in pediatric radiology
  • Published:
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Abstract

MR physics can be a challenging subject for practicing pediatric radiologists. Although many excellent texts provide very comprehensive reviews of the field of MR physics at various levels of understanding, the authors of this paper explain several key concepts in MR physics that are germane to clinical practice in a non-rigorous but practical fashion. With the basic understanding of these key concepts, practicing pediatric radiologists can build on their knowledge of current clinical MR techniques and future advances in MR applications. Given the challenges of both the increased need for rapid imaging in non-sedated children and the rapid physiological cardiovascular and respiratory motion in pediatric patients, many advances in complex MR techniques are being applied to imaging these children. The key concepts are as follows: (1) structure of a pulse sequence, (2) k-space, (3) “trade-off triangle” and (4) fat suppression. This review is the first of five manuscripts in a minisymposium on pediatric MR. The authors’ goal for this review is to aid in understanding the MR techniques described in the subsequent manuscripts on brain imaging and body imaging in this minisymposium.

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Correspondence to Taylor Chung.

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Conflicts of interest

Dr. Chung has received travel and lodging support from Philips Healthcare to participate in the Philips Pediatric MR User Group meeting. Dr. Moore has no conflicts of interest to report.

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CME activity This article has been selected as the CME activity for the current month. Please visit the SPR Web site at www.pedrad.org on the Education page and follow the instructions to complete this CME activity.

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Moore, M.M., Chung, T. Review of key concepts in magnetic resonance physics. Pediatr Radiol 47, 497–506 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00247-017-3791-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00247-017-3791-3

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