An Open-Sided Hybrid MPI and Low-Field MRI Scanner: Experimental Validation Study

Motivation: Magnetic particle imaging (MPI) images the spatial distribution of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) with high sensitivity and contrast. MPI lacks anatomical information, which needs to be provided by a complementary imaging modality. Goal(s): Our goal is to combine MPI with MRI to address this limitation. Approach: An open-sided hybrid MPI and low-field MRI (LF-MRI) scanner is developed, where the coils are used interchangeably between the two modalities. Results: Experiments on a multimodal phantom demonstrate that the MNP distribution is successfully imaged using the MPI mode, while the LF-MRI mode with 50 mT B0 field provided accurately aligned images of the background. Impact: The proposed open-sided hybrid MPI and low-field MRI scanner successfully combines high contrast and sensitivity of MPI with the anatomical imaging capability of MRI, while reducing the system costs using the coil groups interchangeably between the two modalities.