(REST - regional saturation technique / SAT - saturation/ Pre-Sat / spatial Pre-Sat) A specialized technique employing repeated RF excitation of structures adjacent to the ROI for the purpose of reducing or eliminating their phase effect artifacts. This presaturation can be performed on both sides parallel or perpendicular to the slice. Vascular ghosting is eliminated by saturation areas parallel (outside) to the slice plane, because flowing blood produces almost no signal. The possibility of moving presaturation (moving REST / traveling SAT) makes sequence planning and scanning comfortable.

(SMART) Movement of the chest and abdominal wall also causes blurring and ghosting in the images due to variation of signal during data collection. Using SMART averaging is one way of reducing these artifacts but is not always possible or effective enough.

(SNR or S/N) The signal to noise ratio is used in MRI to describe the relative contributions to a detected signal of the true signal and random superimposed signals ('background noise') - a criterion for image quality.
One common method to increase the SNR is to average several measurements of the signal, on the expectation that random contributions will tend to cancel out. The SNR can also be improved by sampling larger volumes (increasing the field of view and slice thickness with a corresponding loss of spatial resolution) or, within limits, by increasing the strength of the magnetic field used. Surface coils can also be used to improve local signal intensity. The SNR will depend, in part, on the electrical properties of the sample or patient being studied. The SNR increases in proportion to voxel volume (1/resolution), the square root of the number of acquisitions (NEX), and the square root of the number of scans (phase encodings). SNR decreases with the field of view squared (FOV2) and wider bandwidths. See also Signal Intensity and Spin Density.

Measuring SNR:
Record the mean value of a small ROI placed in the most homogeneous area of tissue with high signal intensity (e.g. white matter in thalamus). Calculate the standard deviation for the largest possible ROI placed outside the object in the image background (avoid ghosting/aliasing or eye movement artifact regions).
The SNR is then:
Mean Signal/Standard Deviation of Background Noise

Quick Overview

Two types of audio-frequency problems are possible:
1. Modulation of the MR signal at an audio rate
2. Audio signal component at digitizer input
Problem 1 looks like ghosts, weak copies of the real image, displaced along the phase encoding direction. The number and intensity of the ghosts depends upon the relationship between the period of the audio modulation and the repetition time.
Problem 2 shows up as lines or spots at the appropriate points along the frequency direction. If there is no correlation between the audio period and TR, lines are generated or discrete spots occur.

Both problems can be lessened by use of AC-line synchronization (line trigger).

Quick Overview

Radio frequency quadrature artifacts occur when the detector channels of the quadrature detector are disturbed.
A DC offset of one amplifier output can e.g., produce a bright point in the center of the field of view (see also central point artifact), or a higher gain of one detector channel can generate diagonally ghosting.

Radio frequency quadrature artifacts are technical faults and must be eliminated by the service.