Brain Products Press Release
October 2010, Volume 36
IN THE FOCUS BrainAmp MR/MR plus compatibility with Philips 3T MRI officially confirmed by Dr. Robert Störmer
Given the galvanically isolated, non-magnetic and completely RF-proof design of the BrainAmp MR, this amp will probably work directly in ever y imager bore if boundar y conditions (meaningful Tx coil configuration, GRE-EPI) are met. This has been empirically proved and is no longer in question. If the EEG cap is properly mounted and the imager gradient system timing is reliable, good EEG during a BOLD sequence will always be achieved.
The compatibility test is made up of a safety check followed by
A more crucial question is how the overall EEG system affects imaging quality. Impor tant research on this issue has been conducted (Krakow et al 2000, Mullinger et al 2008,
the compatibility tests and to evaluate the impact of the various
Carmichael 2009, Mullinger et al 2010). However, the ultimate test of compatibility remains the confirmations issued by individual scanner manufacturers. Only if a scanner manufacturer confirms compatibility with a given third-par ty product can there be cer tainty of obtaining high-quality imaging data during the combined EEG/fMRI session.
in a compatibility statement covering the Philips Intera 3.0T,
Siemens confirmed the BrainAmp MR’s compatibility with their 3T Magnetom series early in 2008 (see Brain Products’ press release, vol. 28, 2/2008). Even though several dozen units of the BrainAmp MR/MR plus are already in use on Philips platforms ranging from 1.5 to 7T, we were curious to learn more by obser ving the Philips compatibility test at first hand.
the
As the Philips MR neuro team and the Brain Products MR team are always meeting at the same conferences, The Philips team and Pierluigi Castellone (General Manager, Brain Products) were soon able to arrange an on-site test at the Philips Healthcare facilities in Best, the Netherlands.
combined
The Achieva 3.0T X-series MRI combines simple operation with fast scanning and superb image quality
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Eventually, in November 2009 a complete 64-channel BrainAmp MR plus system, our cer tified distributor in the Netherlands, Dr. HarmJan Wieringa (MedCat Nl), and I arrived at the centre of testing operations, Philips’s MRI R&D facility in Best. It was cer tainly an impressive spectacle for us EEG guys to see dozens of Philips Achievas side by side.
checks for spurious signals, LF B fields, B0 homogeneity, RF coil influence, the influence of eddy currents, spurious signal generation by protons, susceptibility to RF fields/switching gradient fields, ECG lead conductivity, susceptibility to static magnetic fields, connectivity between the BrainAmp MR plus system and the Philips MR system, and patient isolation. Our contribution was to analyze the EEG data acquired during sequences on it. The compatibility test repor ts went through an appropriate review process, and and ultimately resulted Achieva 3.0T, Achieva
[email protected], and Achieva 3.0T T X. The cer tificate is available for review at www.brainproducts.com/ product_approvals.php?aid=4. Even more impor tant for our customers are the practical improvements which emerge from teaming up EEG/fMRI at working
The
level.
brand-new
32-channel
Philips
SENSE head coil is the ver y first coil in which the needs of EEG/fMRI
were considered. Beyond
its
outstanding imaging capabilities,
right
from the star t this 32-element coil
was
SENSE
Philips SENSE Head coil (Rx) with 32 elements. The combination with Brain Products EEG is supported by a dedicated pathway for the EEG leads in central Z-axis
designed
with a cable channel in the Z-direction for the EEG cables of a 128-channel BrainAmp MR system. See http://www.healthcare. p h i l i p s . c o m/ i n/p r o d u c t s/m r i/o p t i o n s _ u p g r a d e s/c o i l s/ achieva3t/coils_neuro.wpd This is an excellent solution which prevents loops involving the BrainCap MR cable harness in the scanner. Mandelkov et al (2007) have worked out that perfect scanner/ EEG synchronization requires consideration to be given to sequence timing. To attack the root of this problem Philips designed a console application (Fig. 1 on page 3) which automatically calculates an optimized volume/slice timing parameter for combined EEG/fMRI using the Achieva with BrainAmp MR/MR plus systems.
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Brain Products Press Release
October 2010, Volume 36
We are ver y pleased to see Philips’s awareness of the needs of the fast-growing Achieva/ BrainAmp MR user community, and we look for ward to a fruitful collaboration in the future.
References Krakow K, Allen PJ, Symms MR, Lemieux L, Josephs O, Fish DR. EEG recording during fMRI experiments: image quality. Hum Brain Mapp, 2000 May: 10(1):10-5. Mullinger K, Debener S, Coxon R and Bowtell R. Effects of simultaneous EEG recording on MRI data quality at 1.5, 3 and 7 tesla. Int J Psychophysiol, 2008. 67(3): pp. 178-88 Charmichael D. Image quality issues. In: EEG - fMRI: Physiological Basis, Technique, and Applications by Christoph Mulert and Louis Lemieux, Springer, 2009: pp. 173 -99 Mullinger K., Bowtel R. Influence of EEG recording equipment on MRI data quality. In: Simultaneous EEG and FMRI: Recording, Analysis, and Application. Edited by Markus Ullsperger, Stefan Debener, Oxford University Press, 2010: pp. 107 –17 Mandelkow H, Halder P, Boesiger P and Brandeis D, Synchronization facilitates removal of MRI artefacts from concurrent EEG recordings and increases usable bandwidth. Neuroimage, 2006. 32(3): pp. 1120-6.
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Fig. 1: The new Philips console application provides optimized sequence timing parameters for combined EEG/fMRI and will be available soon.
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