@article{HerzStefanescuLohretal.2022,
  author    = {Herz, Stefan and Stefanescu, Maria R. and Lohr, David and Vogel, Patrick and Kosmala, Aleksander and Terekhov, Maxim and Weng, Andreas M. and Grunz, Jan-Peter and Bley, Thorsten A. and Schreiber, Laura M.},
  title     = {Effects of image homogeneity on stenosis visualization at 7 T in a coronary artery phantom study: With and without B1-shimming and parallel transmission},
  series = {PloS One},
  volume    = {17},
  journal   = {PloS One},
  number    = {6},
  doi       = {10.1371/journal.pone.0270689},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-300129},
  year      = {2022},
  abstract  = {Background To investigate the effects of B\(_1\)-shimming and radiofrequency (RF) parallel transmission (pTX) on the visualization and quantification of the degree of stenosis in a coronary artery phantom using 7 Tesla (7 T) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Methods Stenosis phantoms with different grades of stenosis (0\%, 20\%, 40\%, 60\%, 80\%, and 100\%; 5 mm inner vessel diameter) were produced using 3D printing (clear resin). Phantoms were imaged with four different concentrations of diluted Gd-DOTA representing established arterial concentrations after intravenous injection in humans. Samples were centrally positioned in a thorax phantom of 30 cm diameter filled with a custom-made liquid featuring dielectric properties of muscle tissue. MRI was performed on a 7 T whole-body system. 2D-gradient-echo sequences were acquired with an 8-channel transmit 16-channel receive (8 Tx / 16 Rx) cardiac array prototype coil with and without pTX mode. Measurements were compared to those obtained with identical scan parameters using a commercially available 1 Tx / 16 Rx single transmit coil (sTX). To assess reproducibility, measurements (n = 15) were repeated at different horizontal angles with respect to the B0-field. Results B\(_1\)-shimming and pTX markedly improved flip angle homogeneity across the thorax phantom yielding a distinctly increased signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) averaged over a whole slice relative to non-manipulated RF fields. Images without B\(_1\)-shimming showed shading artifacts due to local B\(_1\)\(^+\)-field inhomogeneities, which hampered stenosis quantification in severe cases. In contrast, B\(_1\)-shimming and pTX provided superior image homogeneity. Compared with a conventional sTX coil higher grade stenoses (60\% and 80\%) were graded significantly (p<0.01) more precise. Mild to moderate grade stenoses did not show significant differences. Overall, SNR was distinctly higher with B\(_1\)-shimming and pTX than with the conventional sTX coil (inside the stenosis phantoms 14\%, outside the phantoms 32\%). Both full and half concentration (10.2 mM and 5.1 mM) of a conventional Gd-DOTA dose for humans were equally suitable for stenosis evaluation in this phantom study. Conclusions B\(_1\)-shimming and pTX at 7 T can distinctly improve image homogeneity and therefore provide considerably more accurate MR image analysis, which is beneficial for imaging of small vessel structures.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{LassmannPreylowskiSchloegletal.2013,
  author    = {Lassmann, Michael and Preylowski, Veronika and Schl{\"o}gl, Susanne and Schoenahl, Fr{\´e}d{\´e}ric and J{\"o}rg, Gerhard and Samnick, Samuel and Buck, Andreas K.},
  title     = {Is the Image Quality of I-124-PET Impaired by an Automatic Correction of Prompt Gammas?},
  series = {PLoS ONE},
  journal   = {PLoS ONE},
  doi       = {10.1371/journal.pone.0071729},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-96863},
  year      = {2013},
  abstract  = {Objectives The aim of this study is to evaluate the quality of I-124 PET images with and without prompt gamma compensation (PGC) by comparing the recovery coefficients (RC), the signal to noise ratios (SNR) and the contrast to F-18 and Ga-68. Furthermore, the influence of the PGC on the quantification and image quality is evaluated. Methods For measuring the image quality the NEMA NU2-2001 PET/SPECT-Phantom was used containing 6 spheres with a diameter between 10 mm and 37 mm placed in water with different levels of background activity. Each sphere was filled with the same activity concentration measured by an independently cross-calibrated dose calibrator. The "hot" sources were acquired with a full 3D PET/CT (Biograph mCT®, Siemens Medical USA). Acquisition times were 2 min for F-18 and Ga-68, and 10 min for I-124. For reconstruction an OSEM algorithm was applied. For I-124 the images were reconstructed with and without PGC. For the calculation of the RCs the activity concentrations in each sphere were determined; in addition, the influence of the background correction was studied. Results The RCs of Ga-68 are the smallest (79\%). I-124 reaches similar RCs (87\% with PGC, 84\% without PGC) as F-18 (84\%). showing that the quantification of I-124 images is similar to F-18 and slightly better than Ga-68. With background activity the contrast of the I-124 PGC images is similar to Ga-68 and F-18 scans. There was lower background activity in the I-124 images without PGC, which probably originates from an overcorrection of the scatter contribution. Consequently, the contrast without PGC was much higher than with PGC. As a consequence PGC should be used for I-124. Conclusions For I-124 there is only a slight influence on the quantification depending on the use of the PGC. However, there are considerable differences with respect to I-124 image quality.},
  language  = {en}
}