Combining magnetic resonance imaging and ultrawideband radar: a new concept for multimodal biomedical imaging

Due to the recent advances in ultrawideband (UWB) radar technologies, there has been widespread interest in the medical applications of this technology. We propose the multimodal combination of magnetic resonance (MR) and UWB radar for improved functional diagnosis and imaging. A demonstrator was established to prove the feasibility of the simultaneous acquisition of physiological events by magnetic resonance imaging and UWB radar. Furthermore, first in vivo experiments have been carried out, utilizing this new approach. Correlating the reconstructed UWB signals with physiological signatures acquired by simultaneous MR measurements, representing respiratory and myocardial displacements, gave encouraging results which can be improved by optimization of the MR data acquisition technique or the use of UWB antenna arrays to localize the motion in a focused area.