81Bones.net's MRI Resources

Updated 2/17/2007

While taking various courses on medical imaging and MRI at the University of Illinios at Chicago, I found myself searching the internet for as many MRI resources as I could find. I decided to do myself and anyone else who was interested a favor and put all of these materials in one place. Some of these materials are from various websites I found doing endless Google searches. Many of them come from the lecture notes of the Bioe494 (Intro to MRI) and Bioe594 (Advanced MRI) courses at UIC. As students in these classes we were required to research various topics in MRI and give lectures on them. Thanks to all my fellow 594 students for their excellent lectures. I hope you find them useful. Enjoy!

Please note: Moderate traffic to my server may result in a noticable slowdown in your downloads. SBC doesn't always give me a lot of bandwidth. Please be patient. Thanks.

1. Introductory materials

• Book chapter on the basics of MRI (494)
• Notes from an overview lecture on MRI basics (421, 494)
• Review notes on MRI basics from an advanced MRI course (594)
• Slides from an somewhat advanced MRI overview (from inet)
• Excellent website on the fundamentals of MRI (HTML book)

2. Spins, Larmor, and the Bloch equation

• Lecture on spins, the Larmor and Bloch equations, and imaging basics (494)

3. Spin-Lattice (T1) and Spin-Spin (T2) relaxation

• Overview lecture of relaxation (494)
• Detailed lecture notes on relaxation (including modeling) (421, 494)
• Lecture on advanced models of relaxation physics (594)
• Key to homework from advanced relaxation lecture (594)
• Slides on spin recovery (from inet)
• Website on T1 and T2 fundamentals (from inet)

4. Hardware

• Lecture on magnet details (494)
• Lecture on gradient coil details (494)
• Lecture on RF coil details (494)
• Lecture on advanced coils: surface coils and microstrip coils (594)
• Lecture on advanced coils: TEM coils (594)

5. Signal processing

• Lecture on modulation, FID, and spin echoes (494)
• Lecture on Fourier transforms, sampling theory, and k-space (494)
• Slides on spatial encoding, part 1 (from inet)
• Slides on spatial encoding, part 2 (from inet)
• Slides on tissue contrast (from inet)

6. Gradient lobe designs

• Lecture on gradient lobe shapes (494)
• Lecture on gradient types (494)
• Lecture on correction gradients (494)

7. Basic pulse sequence design

• Lecture on RF pulse design, part 1 (494, 594)
• Lecture on RF pulse design, part 2 (494, 594)
• Overview lecture of pulse sequences (including gradient echo) (494)
• Lecture on spin echo (494)
• Slides on basic pulse sequences, part 1 (from inet)
• Slides on basic pulse sequences, part 2 (from inet)
• Slides on saturation pulses (from inet)

8. Advanced pulse sequences

• Advanced RF pulses
  • Overview lecture on tagging pulses (SPAMM and DANTE) (594)
• Fast spin echo (FSE or RARE)
  • Lecture on fast spin echo (FSE or RARE) (594)
  • Key to homework questions from FSE and EPI lectures (594)
• Echo planar imaging (EPI)
  • Lecture on echo-planar imaging (EPI) (594)
  • Key to homework questions from FSE and EPI lectures (594)
  • Excellent EPI website
  • Journal paper on EPI, (original inet link)
• Fat and water imaging techniques (Dixon method)
  • Lecture on chemical shift imaging and the Dixon technique, part 1 (594)
  • Lecture on chemical shift imaging and the Dixon technique, part 2 (594)
• Diffusion-weighted imaging techniques
  • Lecture on diffusion-weighted imaging and pulse sequences (594)
  • Lecture on diffusion tensor imaging, tractography, and q-space (594)
• Perfusion imaging techniques
  • Overview lecture of perfusion imaging and contrast based techniques (594)
  • Lecture on contrast-based perfusion imaging (594)
  • Lecture on arterial spin tagging (AST, aka arterial spin labeling) (594)
  • More slides on arterial spin tagging (inet)
• Magnetic resonance angiography (MRA)
  • Lecture on black blood and time-of-flight (TOF) angiography (594)
  • Lecture on phase contrast (PC) and contrast-enhanced MRA (CE-MRA) (594)
• Real-time imaging techniques
  • Lecture on navigator echoes for motion noise reduction (594)
  • Lecture on real-time cardiac imaging techniques and True FISP (594)

9. Advanced image acquisition, processing, and reconstruction techniques

• Lecture on MR image segmentation (594)
• Lecture on parallel imaging, SENSE, and SMASH (594)
• Lecture on partial Fourier reconstruction and homodyne processing (594)
• Lecture on spiral scanning and non-Cartesian k-space trajectories (594)
• Lecture on keyhole, BRISK, and TRICKS acquisition techniques (594)
• Lecture on 2D and 3D acquisition techniques (594)
• Lecture on phase difference reconstruction (includes elastography), part 1 (594)
• Lecture on phase difference reconstruction, part 2 (594)

10. Contrast agents

• Lecture on contrast agent design and molecular imaging (594)
• Website on contrast agents (inet)

11. Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS or NMR)

• Lecture on MRS (594)
• Overview lecture of heteronuclear (non-proton) imaging (594)
• Excellent website on the fundamentals of NMR (HTML book)

12. Books on MRI

• Good overview from a clinical perspective
• Excellent overview from an engineering perspective
• Good overview from an engineering perspective
• Excellent advanced text on acquisition, reconstruction, and pulse sequence design
• The primary reference for MRI physics and sequence design

13. Other websites and materials

• Online MRI lectures from the Radiology Dept at Thomas Jefferson University
• e-mri.org
• Website list by the ISMRM
• MRI basics at e-radiography.net
• A primer on fMRI
• News release on the 9.4T magnet at UIC