Karl-Heinz Herrmann1,
Norman Pfeiffer1, 2, Ines Krumbein1, Lutz
Herrmann2, Jrgen R. Reichenbach1
1Medical
Physics Group, Institute of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology I, Jena
University Hospital - Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany; 2Ernst-Abbe-Fachhochschule
Jena, Jena, Germany
A cost efficient system to acquire a respiratory and cardiac monitoring signal for small animals like mice and rats is presented. The motion detection is based on a small pressure pad and the signal is converted and processed by an analog amplifier and filter circuit. The output in the range of Volts allows any kind of further visualization or sophisticated post-processing in hard- or software. Exemplarily the improved image quality of T2 weighted MR images are shown using the generated respiratory trigger in comparison to the untriggered images.