Brain Products Press Release
October 2010, Volume 36
IN THE FOCUS
BrainAmp MR/MR plus compatibility with Philips 3T MRI officially confirmed
by Dr. Robert Störmer
Given the galvanically isolated, non-magnetic and completely
RF-proof design of the BrainAmp MR, this amp will probably
work directly in ever y imager bore if boundar y conditions
(meaningful Tx coil configuration, GRE-EPI) are met. This has
been empirically proved and is no longer in question. If the EEG
cap is properly mounted and the imager gradient system timing
is reliable, good EEG during a BOLD sequence will always be
achieved.
The compatibility test is made up of a safety check followed by
A more crucial question is how the overall EEG system affects
imaging quality. Impor tant research on this issue has been
conducted (Krakow et al 2000, Mullinger et al 2008,
the compatibility tests and to evaluate the impact of the various
Carmichael 2009, Mullinger et al 2010). However, the ultimate
test of compatibility remains the confirmations issued
by individual scanner manufacturers. Only if a scanner
manufacturer confirms compatibility with a given third-par ty
product can there be cer tainty of obtaining high-quality
imaging data during the combined EEG/fMRI session.
in a compatibility statement covering the Philips Intera 3.0T,
Siemens confirmed the BrainAmp MR’s compatibility with their
3T Magnetom series early in 2008 (see Brain Products’ press
release, vol. 28, 2/2008). Even though several dozen units
of the BrainAmp MR/MR plus are already in use on Philips
platforms ranging from 1.5 to 7T, we were curious to learn more
by obser ving the Philips compatibility test at first hand.
the
As the Philips MR neuro team and the Brain Products MR team
are always meeting at the same conferences, The Philips team
and Pierluigi Castellone (General Manager, Brain Products) were
soon able to arrange an on-site test at the Philips Healthcare
facilities in Best, the Netherlands.
combined
The Achieva 3.0T X-series MRI combines
simple operation with fast scanning
and superb image quality
www.brainproducts.com
Eventually,
in
November
2009
a
complete 64-channel
BrainAmp MR plus
system, our cer tified
distributor
in
the
Netherlands, Dr. HarmJan Wieringa (MedCat
Nl), and I arrived at
the centre of testing
operations, Philips’s
MRI R&D facility in
Best. It was cer tainly an
impressive spectacle
for us EEG guys to
see dozens of Philips
Achievas side by side.
checks for spurious signals, LF B fields, B0 homogeneity, RF
coil influence, the influence of eddy currents, spurious signal
generation by protons, susceptibility to RF fields/switching
gradient fields, ECG lead conductivity, susceptibility to static
magnetic fields, connectivity between the BrainAmp MR plus
system and the Philips MR system, and patient isolation.
Our contribution was to analyze the EEG data acquired during
sequences on it. The compatibility test repor ts went through
an appropriate review process, and and ultimately resulted
Achieva 3.0T, Achieva XR@3.0T, and Achieva 3.0T T X. The
cer tificate is available for review at www.brainproducts.com/
product_approvals.php?aid=4.
Even more impor tant for our customers are the practical
improvements which emerge from teaming up EEG/fMRI at
working
The
level.
brand-new
32-channel
Philips
SENSE head coil is
the ver y first coil in
which the needs of
EEG/fMRI
were considered.
Beyond
its
outstanding imaging
capabilities,
right
from the star t this
32-element
coil
was
SENSE
Philips SENSE Head coil (Rx) with
32 elements. The combination with
Brain Products EEG is supported by a dedicated
pathway for the EEG leads in central Z-axis
designed
with a cable channel in the Z-direction for the EEG cables of a
128-channel BrainAmp MR system. See http://www.healthcare.
p h i l i p s . c o m/ i n/p r o d u c t s/m r i/o p t i o n s _ u p g r a d e s/c o i l s/
achieva3t/coils_neuro.wpd
This is an excellent solution which prevents loops involving the
BrainCap MR cable harness in the scanner.
Mandelkov et al (2007) have worked out that perfect scanner/
EEG synchronization requires consideration to be given to
sequence timing. To attack the root of this problem Philips
designed a console application (Fig. 1 on page 3) which
automatically calculates an optimized volume/slice timing
parameter for combined EEG/fMRI using the Achieva with
BrainAmp MR/MR plus systems.
page 2 of 15
Brain Products Press Release
October 2010, Volume 36
We are ver y pleased to see Philips’s awareness of the needs of the fast-growing Achieva/
BrainAmp MR user community, and we look for ward to a fruitful collaboration in the
future.
References
Krakow K, Allen PJ, Symms MR, Lemieux L, Josephs O, Fish DR. EEG recording during fMRI experiments:
image quality. Hum Brain Mapp, 2000 May: 10(1):10-5.
Mullinger K, Debener S, Coxon R and Bowtell R. Effects of simultaneous EEG recording on MRI data
quality at 1.5, 3 and 7 tesla. Int J Psychophysiol, 2008. 67(3): pp. 178-88
Charmichael D. Image quality issues. In: EEG - fMRI: Physiological Basis, Technique, and Applications
by Christoph Mulert and Louis Lemieux, Springer, 2009: pp. 173 -99
Mullinger K., Bowtel R. Influence of EEG recording equipment on MRI data quality. In: Simultaneous
EEG and FMRI: Recording, Analysis, and Application. Edited by Markus Ullsperger, Stefan Debener,
Oxford University Press, 2010: pp. 107 –17
Mandelkow H, Halder P, Boesiger P and Brandeis D, Synchronization facilitates removal of MRI
artefacts from concurrent EEG recordings and increases usable bandwidth. Neuroimage, 2006. 32(3):
pp. 1120-6.
www.brainproducts.com
Fig. 1: The new Philips console application
provides optimized sequence timing
parameters for combined EEG/fMRI
and will be available soon.
page 3 of 15