Giuseppe Placidi, CRC Press, 2012. ISBN: 978-1-4398-4040-5 (Hardback). xxiv + 192 pages, US$89.95.
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the most versatile and fastest-growing modality in diagnostic imaging, and is considered to be one of the most important medical advances of the 20th century. MRI Essentials for Innovative Technologies describes novel methods to improve MRI beyond its current limitations and combines rigorous development of mathematical concepts with descriptive presentations of the emerging MRI techniques.
This book has been divided into four parts, which are listed as follows along with the titles of their respective chapters:
Part I: “Basic Concepts”
- Chapter 1, “Mathematical Tools” (24 pages), presents a selection of mathematical tools (the Fourier theory and the sampling theorem among them) used throughout the book and thus necessary to better understand the following chapters.
- Chapter 2, “MRI: Conventional Imaging Techniques and Instruments” (45 pages), introduces the physical
principles behind MRI and is intended as a background for understanding the innovative encoding techniques presented in the following chapters.
Part II: “Limitations of Conventional MRI”
- Chapter 3, “Limiting Artifacts for Advanced Applications” (19 pages), discusses the most common sources of artifacts in MRI: magnetic field inhomogeneity, motion, and undersampling. This chapter deals with these artifacts, providing a detailed description of their physical background and manifestation. This will be the motivation for the development of unconventional acquisition/reconstruction methods, which will be introduced in Chapters 4 and 5.
Part III: “Advanced Solutions”
- Chapter 4, “Methods for Magnetic Field Inhomogeneity Reduction” (28 pages), starts with a rapid review of existing methods to reduce artifacts due to residual static magnetic field inhomogeneity (from field mapping to field gradient modulation and amplitude-modulated field gradient pulses). Most of the remainder of this chapter is devoted to a method developed and patented by the author of the book, which consists of substituting the usually employed signal frequency coding scheme with one based on temporal frequency variations through the application of temporally variable gradient pulses.
- Chapter 5, “Methods to Handle Undersampling” (49 pages), presents some methods for sparse sampling acquisition and reconstruction (without and with restoration), with great coverage of adaptive methods and compressed sensing, and a good comparison of both techniques. It also demonstrates that it is possible to combine the use of both approaches.
Part IV: “The Future”
- Chapter 6, “Conclusions and Perspectives” (4 pages), permits the author to briefly summarize the most recent advances in MRI concerning new applications profiting from the high-field superconductive magnets, the more friendly C-shaped MRI configurations, and the new coding methods and acquisition sequences to reduce imaging time. This chapter concludes with some speculations about the future of MRI.
The book ends with a complete listing of the bibliography employed. This material is comprehensive and up to date (14 pages and 156 references).
Although this book covers a specialized area of MRI and the emerging technologies around this imaging modality, the text is comprehensible to most readers. Note that all of the author’s proceeds from this text will be donated to Bambin Gesù Children’s Hospital in Rome.