Ultra-low field Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the human forearm in the arths Magnetic Field of Dublin, Ireland.

Abstract

The aim of this work was to explore the limits and opportunities for ultra-low field Magnetic Resonance Imaging in the earth’s magnetic field at 50T (EF-MRI) in Dublin, Ireland. MRI normally requires high static magnetic fields (>0.5T) to polarise the hydrogen-1 nuclei in tissue and to maximise the available signal. Callaghan et al. developed EF-MRI for use in antarctica [1] before advancing the technology to commercialisation as an educational systems globally [2]. Nowadays those systems can be developed at low material cost of less than 200EUR [3, 4]. However, their use has not evolved much beyond scientific and educational exploration. Some universities reported student laboratories for undergraduates using the system in physics [5] and in chemistry [6]. Yet, other examples demonstrated the remaining signal challenges to work with this approach in practice [