How radiographers can improve MR image - optimizing

factors affecting signal-to-noise ratio(SNR)

Poster No.:

C-1658

Congress:

ECR 2013

Type:

Educational Exhibit

Authors:

M. minov , M. Popovska , A. Doreski , G. Markoski , S.

4 1

Jovanoska ; Stip/MK, Kocani/MK, Skopje/MK, Bitola/MK

Keywords:

Artifacts, Technical aspects, Physics, Education, MR, MR physics

DOI:

10.1594/ecr2013/C-1658

Any information contained in this pdf file is automatically generated from digital material
submitted to EPOS by third parties in the form of scientific presentations. References
to any names, marks, products, or services of third parties or hypertext links to thirdparty sites or information are provided solely as a convenience to you and do not in
any way constitute or imply ECR's endorsement, sponsorship or recommendation of the
third party, information, product or service. ECR is not responsible for the content of
these pages and does not make any representations regarding the content or accuracy
of material in this file.
As per copyright regulations, any unauthorised use of the material or parts thereof as
well as commercial reproduction or multiple distribution by any traditional or electronically
based reproduction/publication method ist strictly prohibited.
You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold ECR harmless from and against any and all
claims, damages, costs, and expenses, including attorneys' fees, arising from or related
to your use of these pages.
Please note: Links to movies, ppt slideshows and any other multimedia files are not
available in the pdf version of presentations.
www.myESR.org

Page 1 of 9

Learning objectives
Managing important parameters that affect signal-to-noise (SNR). A high signal is
desirable in MRI, but here are number of factors which produce noise and degrade the
MR signal.

Background
The relationship between the MR signal and the amount of image noise present is
expressed as the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR).
SNR is the quotient of the signal intensity measured in a region of interest(ROI)and the
standard deviation of the signal intensity in a region outside the anatomy or object being
imaged.

Imaging findings OR Procedure details

The signal to noise ratio depends both on some factors that are beyond the operator's
control and on factors that the user can change.
The SNR is dependent on the following parameters:
- Slice thickness and receiver bandwidth
- Number of acquisitions
- Magnetic field strength
- Field of view and image matrix
- Selection of the transmit and receive coil
- Scan parameters (TR, TE, flip angle)

To achieve optimal image resolution, thin slices with a high SNR are desirable, but thinner
slices produce more noise and decreasing SNR.
This loss of signal can be compensated by increasing the number of excitations
(averages) or by a longer TR but this changes will extend image acquisition time.

Page 2 of 9

The receiver bandwidth is the range of frequencies collected by an MR system during

frequency encoding.
A higher bandwidth is used for the reduction of chemical shift artifacts (lower bandwidth more chemical shift - longer dwell time but better SNR bandwidths accentuate this water
fat shift by assigning a smaller number of frequencies across the MRI image. This effect
is much more significant on higher field strengths.

Number of Excitations
The number of excitations (NEX) or number of signal averages (NSA) denotes how many
times a signal from a given slice is measured or each line of k-space data is acquired
during the scan.
Doubling the number of ac quisitions will increase the SNR. The approximate amount of
improvement in SNR is calculated as the square root of the number of excitations.
By using multiple averages, respiratory motion can be reduced in the same way that
multiple averages increase the signal to noise ratio. NEX will increase SNR but will not
affect contrast unless the tissues are being lost in noise (low CNR). Scan time scales
directly with NEX and SNR as the square root of NEX.
Magnetic Field Strength
Applying a higher magnetic field strength increases longitudinalmagnetizationbecause
more protons align along the main axis of the magnetic field,resulting in an increase
in SNR. MR systems with higher magnetic field give as more space for combinations
and changes in imaging parameters how we can obtain acceptable SNR for relatively
reasonable scan time. With this kind of systems we can generate fast imaging pulse
sequence with improved spatial resolution and SNR.
Field of View and image matrix
There is a close relationship between field of view (FOV) and SNR. Smaller FOV drop
down the SNR but examination time stay unchanged.
A smaller FOV results in a smaller pixel size as long as the matrix is unchanged. Pixel
size is very important for the spatial resolution of the image so when we use matrix with
more pixels-the spatial resolution are improved, SNR drop down, and examination time
increases. Conversely with the same FOV and matrix with fewer pixels result in poorer
spatial resolution but SNR go up and examination time decreases.
The trick is to achieve high spatial resolution in reasonable time. This can be done by
reducing of the "rectangular FOV" (phase encoding direction), because spatial resolution

Page 3 of 9

is determined by the frequency encoding direction, so changes in rectangular FOV or

phase encoding just determine scan time and slight drop down SNR. Commonly this
"trick" is used in imaging of the spine, extremities or MR angiography. Radiographers
must be very carful when make changes in FoV because this can be associated with
wraparound (aliasing) artifacts from part of the body outside of FoV in phase encoding
direction.
Radiofrequency coil (RF coil)
Radiofrequency coil is very important in the MR image quality and choice of adequate
coil for different organs are preferable. I will just briefly describe below.
RF coil should be as close as possible to the anatomy being imaged and surround the
target organ.
Volume coils completely surround the target organ and allows homogeneous signal on
object under examination. Head and extremity coils are examples of volume coils.
Surface coils are used for spinal MRI and imaging of small anatomic structures.
Intracavity coils are small coils inserted into body cavities and improves SNR image
quality of the target organ. Endorectal coil is example of intracavity coil and is use for
examination of the prostate and rectum.
Phased-array coils yield images with a high spatial resolution and allow imaging with a
larger field of view as they improve both SNR and signal homogeneity.

Imaging Parameters
Other parameters affecting the SNR are the sequence used, echo time (TE), repetition
time (TR), and the flip angle. The SNR increases with the TR but the T1 effect is also
lost at longer TRs. Conversely, the SNR decreases as the TE increases. With a short
TE, the T2 contrast is lost. For this reason, the option of shortening TE to improve SNR
is available only for T1-weighted sequences

Images for this section:

Page 4 of 9

Fig. 1: Picture one show how SNR reacting when we change slice thickness from 5mm
(A) to 3mm (B)

Page 5 of 9

Fig. 2: When we increase NEX/NSA from 1(A) to 3(B), signal-to-noise ratio increases but
with same changes increases and scan time.

Fig. 3: Image "B" show better SNR than image "A" because of higher magnetic field.

Fig. 4: Image "A" show how Coarser matrix allows better spatial resolution but lower SNR
than in case when we use fine matrix(image B).

Page 6 of 9

Fig. 6: Phase encoding direction and decreases of rectangular FoV allows better image
without artifacts and slightly decreases in SNR (image B)

Page 7 of 9

Fig. 5: Contrast agent allows extreme high SNR in T1 pulse sequence than nativ series.

Page 8 of 9

Conclusion
With the proper knowledge of the physics of the factors affecting SNR and operating skills
of the radiographers, they can significantly improve the quality of the examination and
therefore have an active role in good patient diagnostics.

References
1.
2.
3.

Elster AD, Burdette JH (2001) Questions and answers in magnetic

resonance imaging 2nd ed. Mosby, St. Louis
Mitchell DG, Cohen MS (2004) MRI principles, 2nd ed. Saunders,
Philadelphia Hendrick RE (1999) Image
Contrast and noise. In: Stark DD, Bradley WG Jr (eds) Magnetic Resonance
rd

4.
5.
6.

imaging, 3 ed. Mosby-Year Book no 43. Mosby, St. Louis

How does MRI Work 2nd edition Dominik Wieshaupt, Viktor D. Kocli Borut
Mrincek
MR-Technology Information Portal
MRI in practice Catherine Westbrook, Carolyn Kayt

Personal Information

Page 9 of 9