Imaging at 0.55, 1.5, and 3.0 Tesla. The main magnetic field strength of clinical MRI scanners has shifted from 1.5 Tesla to 3 Tesla over the past decades. This is because higher field strength offers a higher signal-to-noise ratio, which, in turn, enables higher spatial-resolution imaging. Contrary to this trend, a new 0.55 Tesla whole-body MRI scanner was recently released. The primary motivation for this mid-field MRI scanner is to improve the accessibility to MRI with significantly reduced initial and maintenance costs.
Aside from the cost-effectiveness, the 0.55 Tesla scanner offers a unique advantage over the 1.5 Tesla and 3 Tesla scanners: substantially reduced magnetic field inhomogeneity. This is particularly useful for MRI of patients with metallic implants. Metal in the human body perturbs the applied magnetic field proportionally to the main field strength of the…
