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Imaging techniques

Particular magnetic insights

Nature volume 435, pages 1173–1174 (2005)Cite this article

Over the past 30 years magnetic resonance imaging has been refined into a widely used technique. A method known as magnetic particle imaging has now been devised which offers an inner view from a different angle.

It is fairly easy to record electrical signals from the human body, as with an electrocardiogram. The extraction of magnetic signals is a more subtle business, typically involving strong magnets and exquisitely sensitive detectors. In a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) experiment, this effort is well rewarded, as the technique reveals fine details of a subject's inner life1. The approach can be pushed further by introducing strongly magnetic particles into the body which selectively perturb the weak natural MRI signal and increase the image contrast2. Direct imaging of these particles, however, has seemed less feasible — hence the appeal of the report by Gleich and Weizenecker3 (Tomographic imaging using the nonlinear response of magnetic particles), which lays out a way to do just that.

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Figure 1: Principle of the imaging technique devised by Gleich and Weizenecker3.

References

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  1. associate editor at Nature Physics, based in London,

    Andreas Trabesinger

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Trabesinger, A. Particular magnetic insights. Nature 435, 1173–1174 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/4351173a

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