Steven Ford
Tue. 31 Jan.12,
08:19
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For Magnetic fields, the overall field is adjusted to push it up a little bit in one spot and push it down a little bit in another area. The goal is to create a field that's perfectly homogenous.
The RF field created by the transmit coil likewise must be as homogenous as possible, so that the flip angle is constant throughout the imaging volume. In the past, designers have solved this problem by building coils such as the 'birdcage' style that would create a very even amount of energy inside. This is one reason why the transmit coils tend to be large.
With the advent of 3 Tesla and stronger magnets, the RF resonant frequency also rises. RF energy absorbed in the patient rises with the higher frequencies also, and another problem raises its head: it's a lot harder to make a very homogenous RF field. Even if you are scanning phantoms, the inside tends to be subject to different energy than the edges.
But in the human body, there are all sorts of irregular lumps and bumps that absorb RF differently, further complicating matters.
Now, on modern scanners it's possible to perform a magnetic field shim with the patient actually in the magnet in order to compensate for minute changes in the magnet from one exam to another. For super-high field magnets, an RF shim is also a handy thing to do.
If you have a Multi element RF transmit coil (regular phased array coils are just for receiving) you can run a program which selectively turns up the power in some elements so that the overall signal received is maximized. That's an RF shim.
Steven Ford
Professional Imaging Services, Inc.
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