Mathematical Modeling and Numerical Simulation of Magnetic Susceptibility Artifacts in Magnetic Resonance IMAGING*

Abstract

The technique used to recognise information in Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is based on electromagnetic fields. A linearly varying field (around 10⁻² Tesla per meter) is added to a strong homogeneous magnetic field (order of magnitude of approximately one Tesla). When these fields are disturbed by the presence of a paramagnetic material, in the sample for instance, the resulting image is usually distorted, these distortions being termed artifacts. Our goal is to present a method, assuming the field disturbances are known, to construct the resulting images. A mathematical model of the MRI process is developed. The way the images are distorted in intensity and shape is explained and an algorithm to simulate magnetic susceptibility artifacts is deduced.