Estimating spatial resolution of in vivo MR images using spatial modulation of magnetization

Spatial Modulation of Magnetization is shown to provide a means of estimating perceived spatial resolution directly in vivo. On the first magnetic resonance system tested, resolution in conventional spin echo images was found to be stability limited in the phase encoding direction and voxel limited (via the Nyquist sampling theorem) in the frequency encoding direction both in vitro and in vivo. As the voxel size approaches half the stripe separation, fringes of resolved and unresolved stripes are formed across the image. This phenomenon is explained and described mathematically. On a second magnetic resonance scanner, resolution in the phase encoding direction of fast spin echo images with centrically ordered phase encoding is shown to be voxel limited in substances with long T2, with poorer resolution in substances with short T2. Resolution in fast spin echo images with linearly ordered phase encoding was shown to be voxel limited in the phase encoding direction.