Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Introduction

In Queen Alexandra Hospital there are two 1.5 Tesla MR scanners currently used for clinical investigation. Medical Physics department provides numerous services related to MRI

Quality Control

Monthly and quarterly tests are performed on two MRI 1.5 Tesla scanners in Queen Alexandra Hospital to ensure the quality of the imaging systems is within tolerances suggested by acceptance, manufacturer and MHRA reports. Support is provided to ensure problems are resolved.

Environmental and site safety

Annual safety audit and monthly checks are performed in both MRI sites to ensure that safety and environmental conditions comply with the MHRA guidelines. Suggestions are provided to improve these conditions when required.

Research

Several research projects are currently on going in collaboration with other Medical Physics sections (Radiotherapy Physics and Nuclear Medicine Physics), with other Portsmouth Hospitals imaging department ; and with the Institute of Cancer Research at Royal Marsden Hospital. These projects are focused on areas and subjects as Bayesian methods for Rician noise reduction, Image Fusion, Diffusion Weighted Imaging, QA optimization techniques, metallosis detection in MRI images, Fast Spoiled GE Sequence optimization for PD image extraction. The common target of these research is the optimization of the MRI image sequences in terms of quality, efficiency and significance.  

Since 2007 the group has organised and hosted the annual meeting of the South Coast Magnetic Resonance Physicists.