Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is performed with a very large instrument
that allows the patient to be inserted into a region of uniform magnetic fi
eld. The field is generated either by an electromagnet (resistive or superc
onductive) or by a permanent magnet. Electromagnets are designed as air cor
ed solenoids of cylindrical symmetry, with an inner bore of 80-100 cm in di
ameter. In clinical analysis of peripheral regions of the body (legs, arms,
foot, knee, etc.) it would be better to adopt much less expensive magnets
leaving the most expensive instruments to applications that require the ins
ertion of the patient in the magnet (head, thorax, abdomen, etc.). These "d
edicated" apparati could be smaller and based on resistive magnets that are
manufactured and operated at very low cost, particularly if they utilize a
n iron yoke to reduce power requirements. In order to obtain good field uni
formity without the use of a set of shimming coils, we propose both particu
lar construction of a dedicated magnet, using four independently controlled
pairs of coils, and an optimization-based strategy for computing, a poster
iori, the optimal current values. The optimization phase could be viewed as
a low-cost shimming procedure for obtaining the desired magnetic field con
figuration. Some experimental measurements, confirming the effectiveness of
the proposed approach (construction and optimization), have also been repo
rted. In particular, it has been shown that the adoption of the proposed op
timization based strategy has allowed the achievement of good uniformity of
the magnetic field in about one fourth of the magnet length and about one
half of its bore. On the basis of the good experimental results, the dedica
ted magnet can be used for MRI of peripheral regions of the body and for an
imal experimentation at very low cost. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physi
cs. [S0034-6748(00)01102-3].