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D I Hoult

Publications and source records attributed to D I Hoult.

26 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Rotating frame zeugmatography.

The proton sensitivity obtainable at 5 MHz from a baby is sufficiently large to suggest the possibility of obtaining images with millimetre solution in seconds. Such goals present difficulties; for example, the high quality factor of the receiving coil necessary for good sensitivity limits the receiver bandwidth and leads to long pulse recovery times, and large, rapidly switched field gradients require power engineering. Solutions to these problems are being pursued at the National Institutes of Health (N.I.H.), where a high speed imaging system is under construction. For example, bandwidth and recovery time problems may be resolved with the aid of a low noise preamplifier with imaginary gain and Miller feedback, large gradients may be generated with a magnet comprising two rotatable hemispherical windings and switching of gradients may be eliminated by performing zeugmatography in the rotating frame. It is upon this latter aspect of the design that the present article concentrates.

Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy↗

Phosphorus nuclear magnetic resonance studies on normoxic and ischemic cardiac tissue.

The intact heart of a young rat was excised rapidly and cooled to 0 degree C; its energy-rich compounds were examined by 31P Fourier Transform nuclear magnetic resonance. The heart showed the characteristic spectrum of sugar phosphates, inorganic phosphate, phosphocreatine, and magniesium phates, inorganic phosphate, phosphocreatine, and magnesium ATP, characteristics of the energizing state of the nonbeating tissue. Warming to 30 degrees C imposes an energy load upon the heart consistent with short-term resumption of beating, concomitant intracellular acidosis, and decomposition of all detectable energy-rich compounds. The intracellular acidity causes a shift from pH 7.0 to 6.0. The effects of possible interferences with this pH measurement are considered. The method appears to have wide usefulness in cardiac infarct models for detecting the fraction of the total volume occupied by the infarct and for studying the effect of various proposed therapies upon this infarcted volume.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗

Selective population inversion in NMR.

Population inversion of a selected region of a spectrum is a concept which has wide application in both NMR spectroscopy and imaging. While inversion of population at any one frequency is a trivial matter, ensuring an accurate inversion over a specified bandwidth, with negligible perturbation of the magnetization outside that bandwidth, is a major problem. However, by using as a driving function a complex radiofrequency (r.f.) pulse with an envelope of the form (sech beta t)1+5i where 1/beta is the temporal width and t is time, we have found that above a critical r.f. power threshold, magnetization is accurately inverted over a very sharply defined bandwidth, while outside that region, magnetization is returned to its initial position, and population is unaffected. Within the broad limits imposed by our equipment, we have also discovered that the phenomenon is independent of the incident r.f. power.

Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy↗

Frequency shift artifacts in MR imaging.

Chemical shifts may be expressed as distortions and displacements in magnetic resonance (MR) images. Specifically, in two-dimensional Fourier transform reconstructions such shifts produce visible displacements in the direction of frequency encoding. This is readily observable at 0.26 T with phantoms comprised of in vitro solutions with known chemical shifts and human tissues with disparate fat content. Moreover, frequency shift artifacts are visible in routine abdominal scanning at the interfaces of structures of differing fat content. Two common examples of this involve the vertebral body and intervertebral disk and the kidney and surrounding retroperitoneal fat. Without appropriate changes in gradients, such distortions may be expected to increase with increasing magnetic field strength.

Humans↗

Hyperthermia system combined with a magnetic resonance imaging unit.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has recently been proposed as a method to monitor, noninvasively, temperature, blood flow, and cell metabolism during oncologic hyperthermia (HT). To heat and "image" simultaneously, it is necessary to combine a HT device and a MRI unit. As a demonstrative example of the problems associated with implementing such a system, a mini-annular phased array hyperthermia applicator was combined with a 0.5-T whole body MRI unit. With the aid of filters, baluns, and switches, the HT applicator and the MRI unit were made compatible. The overall system was tested using a muscle-equivalent, cylindrically shaped polyacrylamide gel phantom. No interference between the HT device and the MRI unit was observed. Noninvasive temperature images, with a resolution better than 1 degree C/cm, were obtained from images of molecular diffusion recorded before and during heating.

Humans↗