A low-cost setup for orientation-dependent post-mortem MRI under temperature control

Abstract

Motivation: Systematic variation of external parameters can provide insight into whether theoretical models appropriately describe MRI contrast. Goal(s): Our goal was to develop a cost-effective setup for comprehensive temperature- and orientation-dependent relaxation and magnetization-transfer experiments in post-mortem tissue on a clinical scanner. Approach: A remotely tiltable Helmholtz coil was integrated into a thermally insulated box, where the temperature can be adjusted by a heated airflow. Results: Robust coil performance, accurate adjustment of the sample orientation relative to B0 (±1°), and stable temperature conditions (±0.5 °C) were achieved. Theoretically expected temperature dependencies of T1 and diffusivity in agarose were experimentally reproduced. Impact: Well-defined variations of the temperature (between ambient temperature and 45 °C) and sample orientation (between 0 and 90° relative to B0) in MRI experiments with small post-mortem tissue specimens were achieved on a clinical scanner with a cost-effective setup.