A bandwidth indicator for magnetic resonance imagers.

Signal-to-noise ratios in magnetic resonance imaging are crucial in determining image quality, and dependent on a number of factors, one being the signal bandwidth per pixel. Not all manufacturers clearly state the bandwidth per pixel used for all sequences. A small battery-powered portable device is described which produces bright sharp lines on the magnetic resonance image at 10 kHz intervals in the frequency encoding direction. The bandwidth per pixel can then easily be calculated using electronic distance callipers, provided the image matrix and field of view are known. The device is expected to be especially of value when acceptance testing on poorly documented imaging systems. (C) 1997 American Association of Physicists in Medicine.