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The University of Nottingham

SCHOOL OF PHYSICS & ASTRONOMY

A LEVEL 3 MODULE, SPRING SEMESTER 2010-2011

FUNCTIONAL MEDICAL IMAGING

Time allowed ONE Hour THIRTY Minutes



Candidates may complete the front cover of their answer book and sign their desk card but
must NOT write anything else until the start of the examination period is announced.

Answer THREE out of Four Questions

Only silent, self contained calculators with a Single-Line Display or Dual-Line Display are
permitted in this examination.

Dictionaries are not allowed with one exception. Those whose first language is not English
may use a standard translation dictionary to translate between that language and
English provided that neither language is the subject of this examination.
Subject specific translation dictionaries are not permitted.

No electronic devices capable of storing and retrieving text, including electronic dictionaries,
may be used.

An indication is given of the approximate weighting of each part of a question by means of a
bold figure enclosed by curly brackets, e.g. {2}, immediately following that part.

DO NOT turn examination paper over until instructed to do so

Speed of light in free space c 3.00x10
8
m s
-1

Gravitational constant G 6.67x10
-11
N m
2
kg
-2

Plancks constant h 6.63x10
-34
J s
1.055x10
-34
J s
Elementary charge e 1.60x10
-19
C
Mass of electron m
e
9.11x10
-31
kg
Mass of proton m
p
1.6726x10
-27
kg
Mass of neutron m
n
1.6749x10
-27
kg
Boltzmanns constant k
B
1.38x10
-23
J K
-1

Gas constant R 8.31 J K
-1
mol
-1

Permittivity of free space
0
8.85x10
-12
F m
-1

Permeability of free space
0
4x10
-7
H m
-1

Bohr magneton
B
9.27x10
-24
J T
-1

Stefan-Boltzmann constant 5.67x10
-8
W m
-2
K
-4

Avogadros number N
A
6.02x10
23
mol
-1

Gyromagnetic ratio for protons
H
42.57x10
6
Hz T
-1
Gyromagnetic ratio for carbon-13
C13
10.71x10
6
Hz T
-1

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You must answer 3 out of 4 questions.
You should aim to spend about 30 minutes on each question.



1. (a) A sample has a T
2
* of 100 ms. Sketch the Free Induction Decay when the signal is
(i) on resonance and (ii) off resonance by 10 Hz. {3}

(b) Explain how slice selection is achieved in MRI. Describe how to excite a 3 mm slice
in the presence of a 20 mT/m gradient. {2} Calculate the width of the first zero
crossing of the RF pulse, T. {3}

(c) Explain how a gradient echo is formed from an FID. {2}

(d) Spin warp imaging and echo-planar imaging are both gradient echo imaging
methods. For each, describe how an image is formed including the k-space
diagram. {10}

(e) Discuss the advantages and disadvantages {3}, and applications of each of
these imaging methods. {2}


2. (a) Show that in the high temperature limit the population difference of an ensemble
of spin nuclei is given by:


T k
B N
n
B
z

2
1
=

where B
z
is the main magnetic field, N the total number of spins in the system,
and T the temperature of the system. {3} Evaluate this population difference for
1
H when the temperature is 300 K and the applied magnetic field is 3 T. Express
your answer in ppm, as a fraction of the total number of spins in the system.
{2}

(b) Write down and explain the equation of motion for M in the absence of
relaxation {2}. Give the expression for the Larmor precession frequency. {2}

(c) Explain the advantages of using the rotating frame. {1} Show that the equation
of motion for M in the rotating frame (in the absence of relaxation) when the
system is subjected to rf radiation with angular frequency e polarised along the
x-axis and a static magnetic field aligned along the z-axis, is:


( )
eff
z y x
dt
d
B M
M
=

' ' '
, ,



and derive the form of B
eff
. {6}

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(d) Given that a
1
H nucleus resonates at 500 MHz, determine the resonance
frequency of
13
C for the same spectrometer {1}. In MR spectroscopy, what is
the origin of the chemical shift and state the equation defining the chemical
shift. {2} In a
1
H spectra recorded at 500 MHz the chemical shift of two species
of interest are 1.5 ppm and 2.7 ppm, by how much in Hz are their resonances
separated? {2}

(e) Contrast the use of
1
H and
13
C MRS in the study of human brain metabolism.
{5}



3. (a) Solve the Bloch equation to produce an expression for the recovery of longitudinal
magnetisation after an inversion pulse, and give the equation for the transverse
magnetisation following a 90
0
pulse. {3} Describe the origin of longitudinal and
transverse relaxation. {4}

(b) Grey matter (GM) and white matter (WM) at 3 T have the following longitudinal
and transverse relaxation times (T
1,GM
= 1200 ms T
1,WM
= 800 ms ; T
2
*
GM
= 40
ms and T
2
*
WM
=60 ms ). You may assume the spin density (S
0
) is the same for
grey and white matter. Calculate:

i) the inversion time which maximises the contrast between grey matter and
white matter in a T
1
-weighted image produced using an inversion recovery
sequence; {5}
ii) the echo time which maximises the contrast between grey matter and
white matter in a T
2
* weighted image produced using a gradient echo
sequence. {5}

(c) Image contrast can be enhanced using intravenous MR contrast agents. What
properties should these have? {3} How much will the T
1
of grey matter at 3 T
change if Gd-DTPA is taken up in the tissue to a concentration of 0.1 mM,
assuming T
1
relaxivity of Gd-DTPA of 4.52 mM
-1
s
-1
. {2}

(d) Haemoglobin is used as an endogenous contrast agent for fMRI. Explain the
underlying contrast mechanism and how the optimum echo time is chosen. {3}











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4. (a) Explain why it is thought that synchronised, post synaptic current flow in the
dendrites of pyramidal neurons is responsible for generating EEG and MEG
signals. {5}

(b) Write down the equation for the magnitude of a current dipole moment in a
single dendrite. {1} The conductivity of a neuron is ~
1 1
1

O m , the dendritic
diameter is m u 1 . Assuming a voltage change of 25 mV across the dendrites
length, show that the dipole moment for a single dendrite is approximately 20
fAm. {4}

(c) Briefly state the EEG/MEG forward and inverse problems {2}. Why is the inverse
problem ill-posed? {1} What is the crucial difference between the MEG and EEG
forward problems, which explains the main advantage of MEG compared to EEG?
{2}

(d) A current dipole, Q, is located at position
Q
r inside a spherical conductor. A
radially-orientated, superconducting pickup coil is located at position, r
,
outside
the sphere. The radial component of the magnetic field,
r
B , is given by:

( )
3
0
4
.
Q
r Q
r
B
r r
e r Q

=
t
u


where
r
e is a unit vector pointing in the radial direction at position r .

If cm
Q
7 = r , cm 14 = r , and the angle between r and
Q
r is 20
0
, and we assume
that Q arises from synchronous current flow in 100,000 dendrites, calculate the
magnitude of the detected magnetic field. You may assume that Q is oriented in
the tangential plane. Note you will need to use the answer to part (b) {5}.

Note ( ) o cos 2
2
2
2
Q Q Q
r r r r r r + =
o is the angle between r and
Q
r .
2 7
0
10 4

= NA t u


(e) Write down the matrix equation representing MEG measurements, and label
each of the terms. {2} Explain what is meant by a lead field vector {1} and how
it can be used in a dipole fitting algorithm. {2}









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