Quantitative measurements in obstetric MRI

This thesis describes the development and application of quantitative echo planar magnetic resonance imaging techniques to the study of human placental development in normal and compromised pregnancies. Initially, a method of rapidly and accurately measuring the transverse relaxation time is propose...

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Main Author: Tyler, Damian J.
Format: Thesis (University of Nottingham only)
Language:English
Published: 2002
Online Access:http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/13964/
http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/13964/1/394851.pdf
id nottingham-13964
recordtype eprints
spelling nottingham-139642017-12-19T21:34:08Z http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/13964/ Quantitative measurements in obstetric MRI Tyler, Damian J. This thesis describes the development and application of quantitative echo planar magnetic resonance imaging techniques to the study of human placental development in normal and compromised pregnancies. Initially, a method of rapidly and accurately measuring the transverse relaxation time is proposed using a multi-echo measurement sequence. The method is described, validated on CUS04 phantoms and applied in the study of the human placenta and gastric dilution. It is shown that the inversion provided by sinc pulsesis insufficient to generate an accurate measurement but using adiabatic refocusing pulses yields a measurement that is comparable with a single spin echo. Subsequently, a rapid magnetisation transfer method is presented that allows the quantification of the relative size of the bound proton pool. An experimental pulse sequence is proposed, along with a theoretical model, that permits the investigation of the bound proton pool's transition towards the steady state. The sequence and model are validated using agar gel phantoms and shown to agree well with literature values. When applied in the study of the human placenta, it is shown that there is no significant variation in the fitted value of the bound proton pool size with increasing gestational age or in compromised pregnancies. Finally, several methods of measuring the oxygenation level of blood within the human placenta are investigated. The signal intensities of cardiac gated T~• and T~ weighted images acquired at various points in the maternal cardiac cycle are explored but no significant variation is shown through the cycle. A pulsed gradient spin echo sequence that utilises anti-symmetric sensitising gradients is validated and then applied in the human placenta. Oxygenation measurements with this technique are shown to be unfeasible but the potential of the sequence to monitor blood flow in the placenta is demonstrated. 2002-07-05 Thesis (University of Nottingham only) NonPeerReviewed application/pdf en http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/13964/1/394851.pdf Tyler, Damian J. (2002) Quantitative measurements in obstetric MRI. PhD thesis, University of Nottingham.
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Local University
institution University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
language English
description This thesis describes the development and application of quantitative echo planar magnetic resonance imaging techniques to the study of human placental development in normal and compromised pregnancies. Initially, a method of rapidly and accurately measuring the transverse relaxation time is proposed using a multi-echo measurement sequence. The method is described, validated on CUS04 phantoms and applied in the study of the human placenta and gastric dilution. It is shown that the inversion provided by sinc pulsesis insufficient to generate an accurate measurement but using adiabatic refocusing pulses yields a measurement that is comparable with a single spin echo. Subsequently, a rapid magnetisation transfer method is presented that allows the quantification of the relative size of the bound proton pool. An experimental pulse sequence is proposed, along with a theoretical model, that permits the investigation of the bound proton pool's transition towards the steady state. The sequence and model are validated using agar gel phantoms and shown to agree well with literature values. When applied in the study of the human placenta, it is shown that there is no significant variation in the fitted value of the bound proton pool size with increasing gestational age or in compromised pregnancies. Finally, several methods of measuring the oxygenation level of blood within the human placenta are investigated. The signal intensities of cardiac gated T~• and T~ weighted images acquired at various points in the maternal cardiac cycle are explored but no significant variation is shown through the cycle. A pulsed gradient spin echo sequence that utilises anti-symmetric sensitising gradients is validated and then applied in the human placenta. Oxygenation measurements with this technique are shown to be unfeasible but the potential of the sequence to monitor blood flow in the placenta is demonstrated.
format Thesis (University of Nottingham only)
author Tyler, Damian J.
spellingShingle Tyler, Damian J.
Quantitative measurements in obstetric MRI
author_facet Tyler, Damian J.
author_sort Tyler, Damian J.
title Quantitative measurements in obstetric MRI
title_short Quantitative measurements in obstetric MRI
title_full Quantitative measurements in obstetric MRI
title_fullStr Quantitative measurements in obstetric MRI
title_full_unstemmed Quantitative measurements in obstetric MRI
title_sort quantitative measurements in obstetric mri
publishDate 2002
url http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/13964/
http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/13964/1/394851.pdf
first_indexed 2018-09-06T10:56:28Z
last_indexed 2018-09-06T10:56:28Z
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