1997 1.0T VISTA MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING SYSTEM

The system includes the following components:

Light weight, helium only 1.0T active shield magnet with refrigerator, for easy siting and economical operation.

High efficiency, air-cooled, shielded gradients with short rise times for demanding applications.

Fully digital RF transmit and receive hardware with multichannel expansion capability for phased array applications.

Open design, actively decoupled quadrature head coil with integral preamplifier for high signal to noise and image uniformity.

Large diameter, actively decoupled quadrature body coil for high signal to noise and uniformity in body imaging.

Multi-processor computer architecture for true simultaneous functionality.

64-bit DEC Alpha workstation for image review and processing.

32-bit integrated scan and reconstruction hardware for data acquisition and reconstruction.

Sky Bolt array processor with 64 Megabytes of memory for real time image reconstruction - 200 ms per image
(256 x 2)

Enhanced display processing (EDP) package and software license.

1.6 Gigabyte Winchester disk for short term storage of images.

1.3 GByte read/write optical disk for long term archival of images.

Operator's console consisting of 19" monitor, keyboard, mouse, table and chair.

Versatile graphical user interface with multiple easy to-use windows and pop-up menus.

Digital camera interface for direct transfer of data from computer memory to the camera.

Patient handling system with dual control panels for ease of operation.
operator manuals describing the functionality and operation of the system.

Quality control phantoms for system performance checks.

VISTA 1.0T Active Shield Magnet

Homogeneity of +/- 5.0 ppm over 45 cm DSV and +/- 0.5 ppm over 30 cm DSV provides superior image quality.

Drift of less than 0.1 ppm/hr provides excellent temporal stability and consistency for superior imaging.

superconducting shielding coils contain the 5G fringe field to just 7.9 ft (2.4 m) radial by14.1 ft (4.3 m) axial. THE MOBILE TRAILER HAS ADDITIONAL SHIELDING TO CONTAIN THE 5G FRINGE FIELD WITHIN THE TRAILER WALLS FOR MAXIMUM siting flexibility.

Magnet weight of only 11,025 Ibs (5000 kg).

Standard two stage refrigerator provides a helium boil-off rate of less than 0.15 1/hr.

Emergency ramp down unit (ERDU) for fast reduction of the magnetic field.

VISTA Gradient System
High efficiency gradients with 16 mT/m peak amplitude for ultra-high spatial resolution studies.

Rise time of 500 microseconds to 10 mT/m for fast imaging applications.

Shielded design provides excellent eddy current compensation.

High efficiency design allows air-cooling of both the gradient amplifiers and gradient coils.

VISTA RF System

Actively decoupled, quadrature, open design head coil with 30 cm diameter provides optimum, image quality while minimizing patient claustrophobia.

Actively decoupled, quadrature body coil with 60 cm diameter provides optimum image quality even when scanning the largest patients.

Proprietary design eliminates the need for coil tuning and matching on a per patient basis to reduce patient setup time.

Integral preamplifiers optimize the signal to noise performance of head, body and surface coils.

Single channel, fully digital spectrometer can be expanded to four channels for phased array applications.

Fully digital RF transmit hardware for precise modulation of RF phase, frequency and amplitude and fully digital receive hardware for demodulation and filtering of the NMR signal.

10 kW RF power amplifier for demanding applications

SAR calculation performed by software to ensure that RF power levels comply with regulatory guidelines.

VISTA Computer System

Multiple processors in an integrated architecture allow concurrent operations and provide simultaneous scan and reconstruction to maximize throughput.

64-bit DEC Alpha Workstation with 64 Megabytes of memory for system database and display functions including cine review of images and multi-planar reformatting of 2D and volume data.

Integrated intelligent scan control and reconstruction hardware with multiple Motorola 68040 control processors.

Intelligent scan control hardware provides a wide range of pulse sequence parameters for clinical imaging and high level programmability for the development of new applications.

80 MFLOP Sky Bolt array processor with 64 Megabytes of memory for reconstruction of a 256x2 image in 200 ms.

1.6 Gigabyte Winchester disk for storage of up to 7,700 images (256x2 ) .

1.3 GByte, 5 1/4" read/write optical disk for archival of up to 6,500 images (256x2 ) .

VISTA Operator Console

All operator controlled functions are integrated into a single 19" diagonal, 72 Hz non-interlaced monitor with keyboard and mouse for speed and efficiency.

1280 x 1024 image display with 8 bit pixel depth.

Movable keyboard and mouse for data input, system control and image window and level functions.

Virtual screen software design with pop-up menus allows efficient operation with simultaneous control of different functions including: patient/protocol data entry, pilot setup, scans control, reconstruction, image review/processing, image archival and retrieval and filming.

Ergonomically designed table and chair for operator comfort and efficiency.

Intercom for two way communication with the patient.

VISTA Patient Handling System

Padded motor driven patient transport with vertical and horizontal drives provides both patient comfort and ease of patient transfer into and out of the magnet.

Manual override of the motor drive for quick removal of the patient from the magnet bore.

Motor driven vertical motion with continuously variable position in the range 19" (49 cm) to 39" (99 cm).

Motor driven horizontal motion with a minimum speed of 1. 6 inches/ s ( 40 mm/s ) and a maximum speed of 8 inches/s
(200 rom/s).

Three alignment lasers built into the magnet facade for accurate patient positioning.

Dual control panels located one on each side of the patient aperture control couch motion and allow for reproducible patient positioning.

Intercom for two way communication between the patient and the operator and a hand held alarm for the patient.

VISTA Advanced Software License and Clinical Techniques

Automatic prescan adjustment optimizes RF flip angle and receiver attenuation for consistent image quality.

Slice positioning and orientation through the graphical pilot interface reduces scan setup time. Slice positions may be recalled from previous acquisitions and previously acquired images may be used as a pilot.

Field of view may be offset in any direction.

Anti-alias protection may be selected in the phase or frequency encode directions to reduce wraparound artifacts.

Presaturation allows the selective saturation of material within or outside the field of view to reduce artifacts due to motion.

FATSAT feature allows selective saturation of the signal from water or fat.

2D acquisitions of up to 128 parallel slices within a group. The group orientation may be orthogonal, oblique or multi-angle oblique.

Volume acquisitions with up to 256 slices in a single slab. The slab orientation may be orthogonal, oblique or multi-angle oblique.

User selectable number of signal averages from 1 to 999.

Phase conjugate symmetry allows number of signal averages less than one to reduce acquisition times.

Simultaneous scan and reconstruction allows image reconstruction in parallel with data acquisition.

Preview facility allows images to be viewed as they are reconstructed.

Scan queue facility allows scans to be prescribed ahead of time and recalled for execution.

Full range of pulse sequences including: spin echo (SE), field echo (FE), inversion recovery (IR), short tau inversion recovery (STIR), Fourier acquired steady state (FAST), contrast enhanced FAST (CE-FAST), RF-Spoiled FAST.

SE sequences provide multiple echoes and multiple slices for a wide range of contrast and coverage. Echo spacings may be symmetrical or asymmetrical.

Variable bandwidth provides improved signal to noise for multi-echo acquisitions.

PRISE utilizes a spin echo pulse sequence with variable RF flip angle to allow multi-slice breath hold imaging of the abdomen.

Field echo sequences provide multi-slice capability with variable RF flip angle for control of contrast.

Inversion recovery sequences offer a very wide range of contrast and provide multi-slice capability with interleaving to reduce acquisition times.

STIR sequences provide fat suppression and a very wide contrast range for the delineation of pathology.

FAST sequences use short repeat times to enhance contrast and to reduce acquisition times. Reduces motion artifacts and improves throughput.

RF Spoiled FAST provides excellent T1 contrast with short repeat times through use of RF phase cycling.

RAMFAST provides image acquisition in less than 1second.

MAST, motion artifact suppression technique, provides motion compensation to third order, correcting for velocity, acceleration and pulsatility, to reduce motion artifacts without increasing acquisition time.

TrueRes provides a continuously variable rectangular field of view for simultaneous optimization of resolution and scan time.

TrueSlice provides a continuously variable number of slices in the range 8 to 512 for volume acquisitions to simultaneously optimize slice thickness and coverage.

A very comprehensive range of post-processing features speed image analysis. These include: variable zoom and pan, cine image review, multiplanar and curvi-linear reformatting, measurement of distance and angles, multiple image displays.

VISTA Enhanced Display Processing Package and Software License

The VISTA Enhanced Display Processing Package is a complex digital signal processing package used to adapt the digital image to the characteristics of the human eye. The package utilizes feature extraction and parameter estimation techniques togather information about each pixel and its neighbors (such as the proximity to an edge, number of surrounding edges, degree of edge curvature) in the image and to apply a number of smoothing, filtering and prediction algorithms resulting in a signal enhanced image.

Multi-planar reformatting capability allows fast high resolution reformatting of 2D or volume data sets for visualization of anatomy.

Filming application is controlled from the operator's console and allows automatic filming from a queue.

VISTA 64 MByte Display Memory

An additional 64 MBytes of RAM for high-volume throughput of large data sets. Prerequisite for MRV415 VISTA Angio I and recommended when processing large volume datasets greater than 128 x 256 x 256.

VISTA 8 MBytes Array Processor Memory

An additional 8 MBytes of Array Processor memory for increased data handling capability and speed when using high echo train length (ETL) fast spin echo sequences. Prerequisite for MRV413 VISTA FSE III and MRV418 VISTA EPI.
VISTA 256 MByte Bulk Memory

An additional 256 MBytes of Bulk Memory for increased: number of slices when using high echo train length (ETL) fast spin echo in combination with phased array; imaging. Prerequisite for MRV413 VISTA FSE III and MRV418 VISTA EPI.

VISTA MULTI-ANGLE OBLIQUE SOFTWARE LICENSE

Provides increased flexibility in slice orientation for multi-slice acquisitions such that each slice may have a unique orientation. I
Provides increased flexibility in the orientation of each volume in a multi-volume acquisition such that each volume may have a unique orientation.

VISTA Advanced Digital Gating

Advanced Digital Gating package provides support for photoplethysmograph (PPG), electrocardiograph (ECG) an5
respiratory gating. All waveforms are displayed on the console and can be filmed with the images. Include the following features:

PPG gating synchronizes image acquisition to the patient's pulse, via a peripheral pulse sensor attached to a finger or toe, to aid in the suppression of flow artifacts

ECG gating is accomplished via up to a 4 lead configuration with semi-automatic selection of the optimum lead (i.e. the lead with the strongest signal). The patient's R-wave is used to trigger data collection. Adaptive digital signal processing techniques continuously filter the ECG signal to remove gradient and RF interference.

Respiratory gating is accomplished with a pneumatic bellows assembly which triggers data collection during expiration to reduce artifacts due to respiration (chest) motion.

VISTA FSE I 8 ETL Software License

A fast spin echo (FSE) software license which provides the ability to acquire up to 8 individually phase
encoded echoes per repeat time for a significant reduction in acquisition time.

User selectable echo time for control of contrast.

Single and dual echo acquisitions for T2 and proton: density weighted contrast.

256 x2 and 512 x 2 acquisitions for optimized resolution.

VISTA FSE II 16 ETL Software License

A fast spin echo (FSE) software license which extends the capability of the MRV411 VISTA FSE I software license to a 16 ETL.

Includes all features of FSE I and adds inversion recovery fast spin echo (IRFSE) acquisitions for fast IR imaging including fat suppressed STIR sequences.

Prerequisite: MRV411 VISTA FSE I Software License


VISTA FSE III 3D and 32 ETL Software License I
A fast spin echo (FSE) software license which extends he capability of the MRV412 VISTA FSE II software license to a 32 ETL.

Includes all features of FSE II and adds 3D FSE for rapid T2 weighted volume imaging.

Prerequisites: MRV411 VISTA FSE I Software License
MRV412 VISTA FSE II Software License
MRV601 VISTA 8 MBytes Array Processor Memory
MRV602 VISTA 256 MBytes Bulk Memory

VISTAR Angio I - Time-of-Flight MRA Software License

20 and volume Time-of-Flight (TOF) techniques for bright blood vascular imaging in neuro, musculoskeletal and body applications.

Acquisitions with resolution up to 512 2 and variable slice thickness for high resolution.

Magnetization transfer contrast (MTC) suppresses the signal from static tissue and improves vessel, conspicuity.

Ramped RF improves the consistency of the contrast of blood in volume Time-of-Flight (TOF) acquisitions by varying the flip angle of the blood along the slab.

Multi-slab stacking allows a number of thin slabs to be acquired as one series, providing large coverage and maintaining vessel contrast relative to surrounding tissue.

Short echo times to minimize dephasing and optimize contrast.

Flexible presaturation techniques: static presaturation for imaging of selected veins or arteries, walking presaturation for arteriograms or venograms, overlapping presaturation for suppression of the signal from static tissue.

MAST suppresses motion due to velocity or acceleration in all three directions to provide high contrast between vessels and static tissue.

Processing software for maximum intensity projections for the entire data set or a targeted region of interest.

High resolution cine review of projections at pre-determined angles or at angles specified by the operator.

Prerequisite: MRV600 VISTA 64 MByte Display Memory

VISTAR Angio II - Phase Contrast MRA Software License

2D and volume phase contrast and magnitude contrast techniques for imaging of neuro, musculoskeletal and body vascular structures.

User selectable velocity sensitivities.

User selectable velocity encoding direction.
Acquisitions with resolution up to 5122 and variable slice thickness for high resolution.

Flexible presaturation techniques: static presaturation for Lmag1ng of selected veins or arteries, walking presaturation for arteriograms or venograms.

High resolution cine review of projections at pre-determined angles or at angles specified by the operator.

Prerequisite: MRV415 VISTA Angio I - Time-of-Flight MRA Software License

(Note: The MRV600 VISTA 64 MByte Display Memory option must be ordered with Angio I)

VISTA Phased Array Conversion Package

This package includes the additional cables and fully digital receivers needed for the installation and use, of phased array coils.

Note: Includes additional 192 MByte Bulk Memory.

VISTA Volume Neck Coil
An open access coil optimized for imaging of the anterior neck, cervical and upper thoracic spine. The upper and lower coils are integrated into a mechanical positioning device with the upper one hinged to facilitate patient entry and exit.

VISTA Small Joint Coil with Positioner
A 10cm diameter coil with positioning device allowing the coil to be placed in close proximity to the anatomy of interest for maximum signal-to-noise and image quality.

Phased Array Shoulder Coil
A dedicated coil for imaging of the shoulder providing adequate penetration and coverage for large and small shoulders. Quadrature, receive-only coil designed for phased array or single channel operation.

VISTA C/T/L Spine Array
A phased array coil optimized for high resolution imaging of the cervical, thoracic and lumbar spine without the need to reposition the coil or the patient. Designed for use with phased array imaging capability

Prerequisite: MRV605 Phased Array Conversion package

Flexible Body Coil - EDGE/VISTA
A receive only coil for phased array operation.
The fabric covered flexible coil raps completely around the body and provides excellent signal to noise and uniformity. The coil is designed to provide exceptional image quality for abdomen and pelvic applications, and is particularly suitable for use with rapid breath hold techniques which require increased signal to noise and reduced image artifacts.

VISTA• Quadrature Lower Extremity Coil
A volume coil for imaging of the knee, foot, ankle, and lower leg. The coil is a quadrature, multi-conductor design and offers excellent signal-to-noise and image uniformity. A large internal diameter with hinge4 split top design facilitates easy patient entry and exit. The coil top section has been designed to fully image a foot in the flexed position. The coil is mounted to a conformal base allowing lateral movement to facilitate the scanning of either knee.

VISTA• General Purpose Flex Coil
An all-purpose, wrap-around coil enclosing a 13cm diameter. Packaged in easy-to-care-for fabric. Can be used for knee, shoulder, brachial plexus, elbow, leg,; ankle, and other applications.

VISTA• ATLAS™ - Head/Neck Vascular Array
Atlas is a four-element, receive-only, volume array for imaging of the head, neck and full head and neck vascular anatomy. Coverage extends from the Circle of Willis to the Aortic Arch without repositioning. Imaging can be performed using all four ( 4 ) coil elements or two (2) head section elements or two (2) neck section elements. Coil is compatible with all 2D and 3D imaging sequences as well as full time-of-flight angio capability.

System is still installed and cold. Unit is available for immediate removal and is located in Council Bluffs, IA.