MRI Upgrade

 

The Hardware 

Our SIGNA™ Premier is GE Healthcare’s newest ultra-premium 3.0T MR system that combines powerful SuperG gradient technology and a 146-channel Total Digital Imaging (TDI) RF chain into a true 70 cm wide bore. Designed for high-end research and clinical excellence, SIGNA™ Premier expands the capabilities of 3.0T imaging with consistent acquisitions that adapt to physiology and intelligent applications that accelerate clinical outcomes.  GE has delivered the newest version of their console computer with an upgraded version of console software, as well as two image processing computers which will improve our ability for real time and post-scan processing of anatomic, functional, spectroscopic, and diffusion tensor imaging data.

Please click here for the technical specifications and features of the Signa Premier 

As we continue to optimize the hardware and expand our research capabilities, we expect the following features to be available in the near future: 

- The full ABCD protocol sequence package

- Phase-Sensitive Inversion Recovery (PSIR)  

- Multi-Echo fMRI 

- Second Order Shimming

 

Post-Upgrade Testing 

RF Shield 

 

Phantom 

Please see attached files for results comparison to previous scanner 

2018-12_Premier_48-ch_SNR%20QA.docx

HPD_fiducials_Premier_2018-12.xlsx

HPD_SNR_NEMA1_before-after-upgrade_2018-12.xlsx

T1-VTI_before-after-upgrade.xlsx

 

Task Testing (Human) 

For fMRI, test subjects (n=6) were asked to perform the SST (Stop Signal Task) from the ABCD protocol, and repeated two runs of the task using three different variations of Multiband EPI. (For detailed parameters, please see the scan protocol specifications page) 

A summary of the results is available here

Subjects were also asked to perform a HRF task to measure signal robustness and signal to noise. 

A summary of the results is available TBA

 

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