Physicians Pre-Conference: Basics of MRI-Spins and Hardware

Video Transcription

Video Summary

The session opened the 25th SCMR Scientific Sessions physician pre-conference, aiming to translate cardiac MRI physics into clinical practice. Moderators Jeannie Yu and Sonia Niaz Vaispin introduced the speakers and encouraged audience questions via live chat. The first talk, by Craig Broberg, gave a practical overview of MRI basics for clinicians. Using analogies like spinning tops and springs, he explained proton precession, magnetic alignment, RF excitation, relaxation, and how signals are generated into images. He highlighted T1 and T2 relaxation, including how gadolinium shortens T1 and helps detect fibrosis with late gadolinium enhancement. He also described Larmor frequency, slice selection with gradients, receiver coils, and the basics of k-space and Fourier reconstruction. Finally, he touched on gating and breath-holding to handle cardiac and respiratory motion, setting up the following talks on pulse sequences, fast imaging, and MRI safety.

Keywords

cardiac MRI

MRI physics

T1 and T2 relaxation

late gadolinium enhancement

k-space reconstruction