Single-sided device for magnetic particle imaging

TLDR

Magnetic particle imaging (MPI) is a recently introduced modality that images superparamagnetic nanoparticles with high sensitivity, resolution, and speed by exploiting their non‑linear magnetization, but conventional symmetric coil scanners limit specimen size due to the field of view lying between coils. This study investigates the feasibility of a single‑sided MPI scanner that interrogates the object from only one side. The single‑sided device applies the excitation field from one side and currently offers a one‑dimensional field of view. The single‑sided design eliminates the specimen‑fitting constraint and, in phantom experiments, achieves up to 1 mm resolution, indicating promising performance.

Abstract

Recently, a new imaging modality called magnetic particle imaging (MPI) was introduced. The method is capable of imaging the distribution of superparamagnetic nanoparticles at high sensitivity, high resolution and high imaging speed by exploiting their non-linear magnetization curve. Up to now, all published simulation as well as experimental work uses a scanner setup, where the field of view (FOV) lies in between a symmetric coil configuration. This, however, poses a size limitation for the specimens. In this paper, we present a feasibility study of a new, so-called single-sided scanner, which is applied to the object of interest merely from one side. Thus, the problem of the specimen fitting into the scanner no longer exists, which denotes a major step for MPI. To date, the FOV of the single-sided device is limited to one dimension. First experimental results on imaging phantoms containing a superparamagnetic fluid show a resolution of up to 1 mm and are indeed promising.