Talk:Open Source MRI
Helium is effectively a finite resource that will run out within a generation or two. Better designed equipment will not vent/waste helium, and reuses a given amount of helium over and over again.
It now looks possible to use an ultralow field (ULF) MRI (0.0065 T) with a non-toxic contrast agent, superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs)[1]. No wasted helium either. I'm not sure what OSS libraries can be adapted for use with such an instrument. I've not read the literature carefully, not my interest. Perhaps of comparable utility to a CT scan and without the awful radiation.
Here is a schematic and coil design of the ULF mentioned in the above paper [2].
The image quality with the non-toxic contrast agent looks sharper... but unfortunately not nearly as good as typical MRI. Maybe publishing an open source design will help with innovation/interest here.
In the supplements of the paper [3], Figure S8. Rat body coil, is a photograph of the coil and what looks to be a 3D printed apparatus the rats were placed in.
