Numerical Determination of SNR Using an Anatomic Pixel Rat Brain Model

Rafael Rojas¹, Sergio Enrique Solis¹, Oscar Rene Marrufo¹, Alfredo Odon Rodriguez¹

The signal-to-noise ratio is an accepted standard for measurement of quality in MRI. However, it is very difficult to derive analytical expressions from the Maxwell equations due to the complicated mathematical frame involved in it. The numerical study of the electromagnetic behavior for MRI coils and biological tissues is a good alternative. A numerical method based on Finite Element Method (FEM) to compute the SNR in a circular-shaped coil is presented here, and that was compared with the SNR calculated by a Varian algorithm from a real rat brain phantom image obtained with a 7T MRI system in our laboratory.