System and apparatus for combined magnetic resonance imaging with magnetic spectroscopy of brownian motion and/or magnetic nanoparticle imaging

1. A system for measuring a response of magnetic nanoparticles in an imaging zone comprises:

a static magnet configured to provide a static bias field oriented parallel to a first axis, the static bias field passing through the imaging zone;

at least a first driving coil configured to provide an alternating current (AC) magnetic field along a second axis, the alternating magnetic field passing through the imaging zone, the second axis perpendicular to the first axis;

apparatus for providing at least one static magnetic field gradient with the field oriented along an axis selected from the first and second axis, and the gradient in the field along at least one axis selected from the group consisting of the first axis, the second axis, and a third axis mutually perpendicular to the first and second axis;

at least one sensing coil oriented to provide a detected signal by sensing changes in a magnetic field parallel to the first axis, and further oriented to minimize sensing of changes in a magnetic field parallel to the second axis; and

a signal processing subsystem configured to determine the response of magnetic nanoparticles in the imaging zone to the AC magnetic field based upon the detected signal.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the field of the magnetic field gradient is oriented along the second axis.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the field of the magnetic field gradient has a gradient along the second axis.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the field of the magnetic field gradient is oriented along the first axis.

5. The system of claim 3 wherein the static magnet is configured to provide a bias field of strength greater than or equal to two ten-thousandths tesla.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein the static magnet is configured to provide a bias field of strength greater than or equal to two tenths tesla.

7. The system of claim 4 wherein the static magnet is a main magnet of a magnetic resonance imaging system, and further comprising apparatus for applying radio frequency signals to tissue and apparatus for sensing a response of tissue to the radio frequency signals.

8. The system of claim 5 wherein the signal processing subsystem is configured to determine a voxel-based model of magnetic nanoparticle distribution in the imaging zone.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein the voxel-based model is three-dimensional.

10. The system of claim 5 further comprising at least a second AC driving coil configured to provide an AC magnetic field along the third axis, the AC magnetic field passing through the imaging zone, and comprising apparatus allowing the direction of an alternating field resulting from energizing the first and second AC driving coils to be steered electronically.

11. The system of claim 5 wherein the at least one sensing coil is electrically coupled to a center tap node, the center tap node being coupled to a balance coil disposed to be less sensitive to magnetic nanoparticles in the imaging zone than is the sensing coil, and the center tap node is coupled to an input of a differential amplifier; and

wherein a first resistor is electrically coupled between a second input of the differential amplifier and across the sensing coil; and a second resistor between the second input of the differential amplifier and across the balance coil; and

wherein at least one of the first and second resistors is an adjustable resistor.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the adjustable resistor is automatically adjusted.

13. A method of producing magnetic nanoparticle data comprising:

applying a DC bias magnetic field along a first axis to nanoparticles in a sensing zone;

applying an AC magnetic field along a second axis to the nanoparticles, the second axis perpendicular to the first axis;

while the DC and AC magnetic fields are applied, sensing a response from the nanoparticles with a sensing coil oriented to respond primarily to field perturbations along the first axis, while minimizing response to field perturbations along the second axis;

processing the sensed response to provide the magnetic nanoparticle data.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising determining a voxel-based model of nanoparticle distribution in the sensing zone.

15. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:

applying a second AC magnetic field along a third axis to the nanoparticles, the third axis perpendicular to the first axis; and

while the DC and second AC magnetic fields are applied, sensing a response from the nanoparticles with a sensing coil oriented to respond primarily to field perturbations along the first axis, while minimizing response to field perturbations along the third axis.

16. The method of claim 13 , wherein the nanoparticle data comprises magnetic spectroscopy of Brownian motion data.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein the nanoparticle data comprises magnetic particle imaging data.

18. The method of claim 15 wherein the DC magnetic field has strength at least two-tenths millitesla.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the DC magnetic field has strength at least two-tenths tesla.

20. The method of claim 18 , wherein the nanoparticle data comprises a signal from magnetic nanoparticles that relaxes with the Neel relaxation mechanism at a resonant frequency of the nanoparticles.

21. The system of claim 1 further comprising an array of adjustment coils to adjust the static field on the first axis and the AC field on the second axis to be more perpendicular to each other at each time during the cycle of the AC field.

22. A method of diagnosis comprising the method of claim 14 and further comprising before obtaining the magnetic nanoparticle data:

positioning a subject for imaging;

adjusting circuit null to remove any magnetic effects of tissue of the subject prior to injection of the magnetic nanoparticles; and

injecting the magnetic nanoparticles.