Abstract:

The present magnetic resonance electrical impedance tomography (MREIT) method can only be used in MRI systems in which the main magnetic fields are parallel to the horizontal plane. In this paper, a new MREIT method with currents injected from an oblique plane is proposed. It can be used on MRI scanners with either permanent magnet or superconductive magnet. Using computers to control the MRI system and the electrical impedance tomography (EIT) equipment, we showed that it is possible to (1) measure the magnetic flux density B(x, y, z) generated by the currents injected; (2) inject currents to the imaging object; (3) match perfectly the MRI and EIT sequences in time; (4) measure the magnitudes of surface voltages. Some experimental results were presented.

Key words: magnetic resonance electrical impedance tomography (MREIT), hardware design, currents injected from an oblique plane