The course starts with nuclear magnetic resonance physics, including how to manipulate and detect signal from the nuclear spins and how that can be utilized to create an imaging system - magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). After that we continue by studying the technical aspects of an MRI scanner and its main components such as the main magnet, the gradients and the RF-system.
Deviations from the ideal functionality of the scanner components and consequences of these are studied to give an understanding of common artifacts and to give tools to reduce these. The course also include image reconstruction and how the design of pulse sequences affect the image contrast. The most important types of MRI sequences such as gradient echo and spin echo are studied in detail, while more specialized sequences such as those used for diffusion weighted imaging, spectroscopy and flow measurements are treated more superficially. Techniques used for speeding up MRI are also studied.
An introduction to ultrasound imaging is included in the course. Here we study ultrasound physics and how the imaging system is constructed. Generation of ultrasound, pulse-echo methods and Doppler techniques are also included.
