| MRI Principles, 2nd Edition Donald G. Mitchell, MD & Mark S. Cohen, PhD |
Preface
Judging from sustained book sales, positive reviews and comments from readers, the first edition of “MRI Principles” appears to have been highly successful. Korean and Chinese translations have been published. Although four years have passed since the first edition was published, the field of MRI has continued to advance rapidly. Contrast-enhanced MR angiography, functional neuroimaging, and parallel imaging are just a few of the advances that have become part of routine clinical MRI during this period. Therefore, a second edition was in order.
To improve the depth and technical accuracy of “MRI Principles”, without reducing its level of clarity for individuals who are not facile in the language of mathematics and physics, the second edition is a collaboration between two individuals with highly complementary backgrounds and interests who have known each other for well over a decade. Mark S. Cohen, Ph.D. has directly helped to revise, and to add new material to, chapters 1-12, 16-20, and 25-26, and has provided insights that have helped to improve the other chapters.
All chapters have been reviewed and revised extensively, to keep current with the rapidly advancing state
of MR technology. There are several new illustrations, and the existing illustrations have been modified in most cases to render the annotation and symbols more consistent with standard conventions used in other publications. We have increased the description of contrast enhanced MR angiography, and of advanced neurologic and cardiac applications. We added a final chapter discussing the principles of protocol construction and optimization, utilizing the principles as described earlier in the book.
Despite the almost prosaic quality the exam now has, MRI remains a difficult method to understand. Whereas X-rays behave more or less like conventional light, the magnetic resonance signal is entirely novel and completely beyond direct human sensation. The very presentation of MR data as images is a distortion, for the signal has nothing to do with light and dark, the organization into spatial maps is superimposed onto it and the primary contrast comes from temporal information. Our experience in MRI has shown that novices must get their minds around several new concepts, none of which can be understood well without the others. Although it can be frustrating, learning MRI can also be delightful, as each time the student integrates a new idea, it results in a series of epiphanies about the others.
This book was written primarily for clinicians. Of necessity it is a physics text, but for our audience we assume that the physics is a means to an end. We have included information our readers will need to prescribe tailored exams and to make clinical decisions based on the images, avoiding details for their own sake. As it has evolved, MRI has expanded out of clinical imaging into new and unexpected terrain; other scientists, such as psychologists, psychiatrists and neuroscientists, cardiologist and oncologists will also need to understand how MRI words without being harassed by obscure physics. These users, too, should be able to use this text to get started.
Having been involved personally in MR for most of its history offers this observation: the rate of new development has not slowed. Researchers are still discovering new physical principles that will further expand the already vast applications of MRI. In virtually every MR artifact, there is a new application to be found. The field of MR angiography, for example, arose from careful study of artifacts from motion; magnetization transfer, diffusion, perfusion and other techniques share a similar history. The second edition of this text, written only a few years after the first, has seen the new or expanded coverage of entirely new topics: functional MRI, perfusion imaging, parallel imaging and many others. This is a testimony to evolution of the field and to the continuing need for practitioners to keep informed and on top.
Acknowledgements
As with the first edition, the second edition of MRI Principles” has been “usability tested” by several individuals here at the Thomas Jefferson University Department of Radiology, Division of MRI. I am particularly grateful to Drs. Christopher Roth, Jaime Checkoff, and Hongyu Shi for their highly insightful comments that helped improve the clarity of the second edition. I am also grateful to David Friedman, M.D., for his helpful comments regarding neurologic applications. Finally, I thank Mark Cohen, for his patience and dedication during the revisions. His contributions have added substantially to the quality and usefulness of this publication.
Donald G. Mitchell. M.D.
I could never have gotten this far without the help of literally dozens of mentors in MRI. At the risk of leaving out many, I want to appreciate Philip Femano, Dennis Atkinson, Wilfried Löffler, Piotr Starewicz, Truman Brown, Richard Rzedzian, Ian Pykett, Michael Rohan and Robert Weisskoff, each for explaining to me how this whole thing works. I will take this opportunity, also, to thank my co-author, Donald Mitchell, for the chance to work with him on this second edition. I have been brutal on insisting on hundreds of changes to suit my own particular need for accuracy and detail and he has been tirelessly gracious in accepting these. My hope throughout this has been to help improve on his already very successful work.
Mark S. Cohen, Ph.D.
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