Steven Harris1, Xiaoping Hu1
1Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology / Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
A method for producing contrast based on the failure of the adiabatic condition in regions surrounding iron oxide nanoparticles is presented. Numerical simulations and experimental data show that the microscopic changes in the magnetic field around the particles produce frequency offsets that can be detected using an adiabatic preparation pulse. SPIO sensitive images generated using the prepared and non-prepared images show increasing image intensity with increasing iron concentration. This contrast appears linear and shows only a small increase in intensity with particles in agar versus water, suggesting insensitivity to magnetization transfer.