Top-level Design and Simulated Performance of the First Portable CT-MR scanner
Abstract
Multi-modality imaging hardware can be integrated in a single gantry to collect diverse datasets for complementary information and spatiotemporal correlation, with excellent examples including PET-CT and PET-MRI. However, there is no CT-MRI prototype up to today due to technical challenges and associated cost-benefit considerations. Thanks to the rapid development of medical imaging, it becomes feasible now to integrate cost-effective CT and MRI imagers together for portability, popularity, and point of care. In this paper, we present the top-level design of the first portable CT-MRI system and evaluate its imaging performance via realistic numerical simulations. In this CT-MRI system, the magnet made of two NdFeB rings of about 40.0 cm radius forms a magnetic field of about 57 mT at the isocenter and has a gap of 11.3 cm to accommodate the rotating CT gantry. The targeted MR imaging field of view (FOV) is a sphere of ~15 cm in diameter and that of CT is approximately 20 cm diameter in axial direction and 5 cm in longitudinal direction. Our results show a great potential of such a hybrid system. The proposed CT-MRI system will be valuable in applications such as imaging in underdeveloped countries, disaster scenes and battle fields.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2203.15989,
title = {Top-level Design and Simulated Performance of the First Portable CT-MR scanner},
author = {Yuting Peng and Mengzhou Li and Jace Grandinetti and Ge Wang and Xun Jia},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2203.15989},
year = {2022}
}