On the partial volume effect in magnetic particle imaging

<i>Objective.</i>Magnetic particle imaging (MPI) is an emerging tomographic 'hot spot' imaging modality with potential to visualize superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticle tracer distributions with high sensitivity and quantitative accuracy. MPI shares many similarities with positron emission tomography (PET), where the partial volume effect (PVE) can result in signal under- and over-quantification due to spill-over of signal arising from limited resolution. While the PVE has been alluded to in the MPI literature it has not been previously studied nor characterized. The objective of this study was to systematically characterize this PVE in MPI.<i>Approach.</i>This contribution characterizes the PVE using models of varying size and shape filled with a uniform concentration of tracer. The effect of object size on signal distribution was analyzed after application of a new image post-processing filter.<i>Main results.</i>As object size increased, signal distribution increased to a maximum signal value independent of object geometry and proportional to tracer concentration. Furthermore, for small objects with characteristic dimensions below the resolution of the tracer at the scanning conditions used, signal suppression was observed. These results are consistent with foundational observations of PVE in PET, suggesting that approaches to overcome the PVE in PET may be applicable to MPI.<i>Significance.</i>This finding has significant impact on the MPI field by demonstrating the presence of the PVE phenomenon that can directly influence imaging results.