Acquisition Times in Magnetic Resonance Imaging: Optimization in Clinical Use

Nuclear magnetic resonance imaging is a routine clinical system used for whole-body patient scanning that provides 3-D images. Recent technological innovations have encouraged the use of this technology for noninvasive coronary, heart, and chest investigation or for research applications, but the image quality of this technique depends on several factors. Some parameters are linked to the apparatus designed to acquire the magnetic resonance image, whereas others can be controlled by the user. In this paper, the authors analyze the software-controlled magnetic- resonance-imaging parameters to reduce the health examination acquisition time by assuring a good quality of the images. This objective is of fundamental importance to both increase the number of clinical tests produced with this equipment and to reduce the radiation doses in the patients. For this purpose, the parameters that influence the time acquisition and the signal-to-noise ratio were investigated, and a software platform for optimizing the imaging acquisition time was developed.