Bone volume-to-total volume ratio measured in trabecular bone by single-sided NMR devices.

PURPOSE: Reduced bone strength is associated with a loss of bone mass, usually evaluated by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, although it is known that the bone microstructure also affects the bone strength. Here, a method is proposed to measure (in laboratory) the bone volume-to-total volume ratio by single-sided NMR scanners, which is related to the microstructure of the trabecular bone. METHODS: Three single-sided scanners were used on animal bone samples. These low-field, mobile, low-cost devices are able to detect the NMR signal, regardless of the sample sizes, without the use of ionizing radiations, with the further advantage of signal localization offered by their intrinsic magnetic field gradients. RESULTS: The performance of the different single-sided scanners have been discussed. The results have been compared with bone volume-to-total volume ratio by micro CT and MRI, obtaining consistent values. CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrate the feasibility of the method for laboratory analyses, which are useful for measurements like porosity on bone specimens. This can be considered as the first step to develop an NMR method based on the use of a mobile single-sided device, for the diagnosis of osteoporosis, through the acquisition of the signal from the appendicular skeleton, allowing for low-cost, wide screening campaigns. Magn Reson Med 79:501-510, 2018. © 2017 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.

Measuring diffusion-relaxation correlation maps using non-uniform field gradients of single-sided NMR devices.

Single-sided NMR systems are becoming a relevant tool in industry and laboratory environments due to their low cost, low maintenance and capacity to evaluate quantity and quality of hydrogen based materials. The performance of such devices has improved significantly over the last decade, providing increased field homogeneity, field strength and even controlled static field gradients. For a class of these devices, the configuration of the permanent magnets provides a linear variation of the magnetic field and can be used in diffusion measurements. However, magnet design depends directly on its application and, according to the purpose, the field homogeneity may significantly be compromised. This may prevent the determination of diffusion properties of fluids based on the natural inhomogeneity of the field using known techniques. This work introduces a new approach that extends the applicability of diffusion-editing CPMG experiments to NMR devices with highly inhomogeneous magnetic fields, which do not vary linearly in space. Herein, we propose a method to determine a custom diffusion kernel based on the gradient distribution, which can be seen as a signature of each NMR device. This new diffusion kernel is then utilised in the 2D inverse Laplace transform (2D ILT) in order to determine diffusion-relaxation correlation maps of homogeneous multi-phasic fluids. The experiments were performed using NMR MObile Lateral Explore (MOLE), which is a single-sided NMR device designed to maximise the volume at the sweet spot with enhanced depth penetration.

Determining pore length scales and pore surface relaxivity of rock cores by internal magnetic fields modulation at 2MHz NMR.

Pore length scales and pore surface relaxivities of rock cores with different lithologies were studied on a 2MHz Rock Core Analyzer. To determine the pore length scales of the rock cores, the high eigenmodes of spin bearing molecules satisfying the diffusion equation were detected with optimized encoding periods in the presence of internal magnetic fields Bin. The results were confirmed using a 64MHz NMR system, which supports the feasibility of high eigenmode detection at fields as low as 2MHz. Furthermore, this methodology was combined with relaxometry measurements to a two-dimensional experiment, which provides correlation between pore length and relaxation time. This techniques also yields information on the surface relaxivity of the rock cores. The estimated surface relaxivities were then compared to the results using an independent NMR method.