Simultaneous MR-PET
Siemens MR-PET (Biograph mMR)
Monash Biomedical Imaging operates Victoria’s only research-dedicated Siemens Biograph mMR scanner, which is capable of simultaneous magnetic resonance (MR) and positron emission tomography (PET) imaging.
This scanner is located at our Clayton site and is suitable for clinical and preclinical (large animal only) studies.
Benefits of using simultaneous MR-PET
- Allows for concurrent acquisition of morphology, function, and metabolism
- Non-invasive imaging of the human body and large animals
- Almost 40% better sensitivity than PET-CT - no XRay irradiation
- Industry-leading MR image quality for off-centre imaging, fat saturation and spectroscopy
- Improved imaging outcomes with high definition-PET, giving benchmark PET image quality using measured Point Spread Functions, producing images with improved uniformity, higher resolution and more contrast
- MBI has a strong collaboration arrangement with Siemens, which provides us with access to the latest imaging sequences
Capabilities
- Full body anatomical MRI and positron emission tomography (PET) scanning
- Neural functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) and PET scanning
- Cardiac MRI and PET
- ZOOMit parallel transmit technology
Research applications
- Neuroimaging - fMRI, TMS, EEG, metabolism, degenerative disease, clinical and research PET tracers, quantitative susceptibility mapping
- Cardiac studies - metabolic PET, blood flow and vasculature studies, cardiac measurements and dynamic studies
- Structural MRI - T1, T2 and proton density weighted imaging
- Water mapping
- Soft tissue - oncology and organ imaging
Biograph mMR technical specifications
- 3 Tesla with 60cm bore diameter, short bore and high homogeneity
- TrueForm magnet design, producing a cylindrically optimised homogeneity volume that results in better image quality by reducing unusable edges in the images, as well as better fat saturation for the whole area covered in the scan.
- MR gradient system
- Actively shielded whole-body gradient coil system
- Extremely low eddy currents
- Gradient coil length 159cm, optimised for gradient linearity
- Excellent spatial and temporal resolution
- Patient-specific shimming
- Active shim via 3 linear channels with 20 coils
- Combined with 5 additional non-linear second order channels with 32 coils for advanced high order shim
- Maximum acoustic noise level is 118 dB(A)
- PET detectors
- Crystal material - LSO
- Crystal elements per block - 64
- Total detector blocks - 448
- Total number of crystal elements - 28,672
- Image planes - 127
- PET offline reconstruction
- Provides static and whole-body PET reconstruction capabilities outside the context of an acquisition, from saved PET raw data
- Two CCTV cameras mounted inside the scan room connected to two monitors in the control room for zoomed viewing of participants and wide angle coverage of the entire room at all times
Compatible equipment
- Biograph mMR Application Suites including: Neuro, Angio, Cardiac, Body, Onco, Breast, Ortho, Pediatric and Scientific
- Nonin fibre-optic MRI-compatible pulse oximeter
- Auxiliary sensors:
- Respiration belt
- Galvanic skin response
- Electrocardiogram (ECG)
- Electromyography (EMG)
- Neuropsychological testing software applications: E-Prime 2.0, Neurobehavioral Systems Presentation, MATLAB, PsychToolBox
- 32" BOLDScreen for stimuli presentation
- Current Designs 932 fibre optic response box system
- Available response devices (all from Current Designs):
- Trackball
- Grip force sensor
- 1x4 diamond button box
- 2x2 button boxes
- Animal anaesthesia and monitoring
Radiopharmacy
For clinical research imaging using our simultaneous MR-PET scanner, our radiopharmacy facilities include:
- dose calibration of a large range of radiopharmaceuticals for both bolus and infusion administration methods
- the expertise to take venous blood samples before, during and after radiopharmaceutical administration
Additional support
Our Clinical Support Team can provide valuable guidance (computer software and hardware troubleshooting and installation, equipment troubleshooting, training, and neurobehavioural computer task programming)and our Administrative Team can help you navigate the relevant procedures.