Structure formed of atoms of various elements.

A semiconductor device whose RF resistance varies in proportion to an applied DC bias current. PIN diodes are essential elements for rapid switching of RF coils between transmit and receive modes and for coil decoupling.

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the Panorama 0.23 T, providing a new design optimized for patient comfort, faster reconstruction time than before (300 images/second) and new gradient specifications. Philips' Panorama 0.23 T I/T supports MR-guided interventions, resulting in minimally invasive procedures, more targeted surgery, reduced recovery time and shorter hospital stays. Optional OptoGuide functionality enables real-time needle tracking. Philips' Panorama 0.23 TPanorama 0.2 R/T is the first and only open MRI system to enable radiation therapy planning using MR data sets. The Panorama also features the new and consistent Philips User Interface, an essential element of the Vequion clinical IT family of products and services.

The phased array coils operate typically as receive only coils. In that case, the in the MRI device implemented body coil act as the transmitter and sends the radio frequency energy to generate the excitation pulses. State-of-the-art array coil systems include the use of 4 (up to 32) coils with separate receivers. This method is often referred to as a phased array system, although the signals are not added such that the signal phase information is included. The use of phased array coils allows the decreasing of the number of signal averages, which shortens the scan time by high SNR and resolution.
High-sensitivity RF surface coils and digital processing algorithms have been developed that speed up image acquisition and reconstruction during the MRI scan.
Fast parallel imaging techniques, for example sensitivity encoding (SENSE), 'Partially Parallel Imaging with Localized Sensitivity' (PILS), Simultaneous Acquisition of Spatial Harmonics (SMASH) or Array Spatial Sensitivity Encoding Technique (ASSET) use phased array multichannel coils to further improve spatial and temporal resolution. The sensitivity profile of a phased array coil element is measured by a separate low resolution 3D acquisition over the entire field of view in the case of a SENSE acquisition. For an mSENSE measurement, a self-calibration acquires some of the missing lines in the center of the k-space.
Also called linear array coil or synergy surface coil.

See also the related poll result: '3rd party coils are better than the original manufacturer coils'

(PACS) A system used to communicate and archive medical imaging data, mostly images and associated textural data generated in a radiology department, and disseminated throughout the hospital. A PACS is usually based on the DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine) standard.
The main components in the PACS are:
Acquisition devices, which acquire their data in direct digital format, like a MRI system, are most easily integrated into a PACS.
Short term archives need to have rapid access, such as provided by a RAID (redundant array of independent disks), whereas long term archives need not have such rapid access and can be consigned, e.g. to optical disks or a magnetic.
High speed networks are necessary for rapid transmission of imaging data from the short term archive to the diagnostic workstations. Optical fiber, ATM (asynchronous transfer mode), fast or switched Ethernet, are examples of high speed transmission networks, whereas demographic textural data may be transmitted along conventional Ethernet.
Sophisticated software is a major element in any hospital-wide PACS. The software concepts include: preloading or prefetching of historical images pertinent to current examinations, worklists and folders to subdivide the vast mass of data acquired in a PACS in a form, which is easy and practical to access, default display protocols whereby images are automatically displayed on workstation monitors in a prearranged clinically logical order and format, and protocols radiologists can rapidly report worklists of undictated examinations, using a minimum of computer manipulation.