October 27, 2008 – Aurora Imaging Technology will unveil a breast MRI solution, AuroraEDGE, which is designed to enhance image resolution, at the RSNA annual meeting this year.
Exclusive to the Aurora 1.5 Tesla Dedicated Breast MRI System, this technology is designed to improve image resolution and reduce common breast MRI artifacts, resulting in the production of crystal clear images of both breasts, axillae, chest wall and mediastinum in a single bilateral scan.
Steven E. Harms, M.D., medical director, Aurora Imaging Technology, explained that, “aliasing or wrap-around artifacts are produced when areas outside the field of view are folded back into the image. This problem has become more severe with the widespread adaptation of parallel imaging on whole body MRI systems. The new acquisition efficiency of AuroraEDGE is used to oversample in both in-plane dimensions to avoid aliasing in those dimensions.
“Wrap-around artifacts also can occur in the slice dimension,” added Dr. Harms. “Whole body MRI manufacturers attempt to avoid aliasing in this direction with slab selection. This technique is not very effective for T1 weighted images where the slab edges can often contribute more signal than the center. The increased efficiency of AuroraEDGE on the Aurora Breast MRI System allows oversampling of image data in the slice direction to virtually eliminate slice wrap.”
Motion artifacts from cardiac and respiratory movement often significantly impair visualization of the axillary tail of the breast and axillary regions on most whole body MRIs. Motion also can affect the quality of breast imaging. The unique pulse sequence and image acquisition system used in AuroraEDGE minimizes the effect of cardiac and respiratory motion on the images. The result of this new technology is the production of pristine anatomic detail of the axillary tail, axillary nodes, chest wall and mediastinum.
“The clean display of breast anatomy allows more effective depiction of subtle lesions for better characterization and differentiation from benign lesions,” added Dr. Harms.
The image specifications with the new AuroraEDGE are as follows:
- 3D Image Matrix 512x512x250 slices
- 0.7 mm slice thickness, no gap between slices
- Acquires a true 3-D volume, offering isotropic true 0.7 mm resolution in all three planes
- Less than three minutes per scan (18 minutes total patient scan time)
- Post-contrast time points obtained at intervals of 90 seconds, 4.5 minutes, 7.5 minutes and 10.5 minutes
- Suppression of in-plane and slice wrap effects
- Suppression of cardiac motion effects
For more information: www.auroramri.com
February 09, 2024 
