How can a zipper MRI artifact be limited to a single line?

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SUMMARY

The zipper MRI artifact, characterized by a thin vertical stripe on clinical images, arises from specific RF interference affecting a particular frequency during the imaging process. This phenomenon occurs at a single point in time in Fourier space (k-space), leading to a localized distortion that contrasts with the broader impact of the herringbone artifact. The discussion highlights the importance of understanding the relationship between RF signal corruption and its manifestation in reconstructed images through the inverse FFT process. Additionally, the potential influence of environmental factors, such as the use of a Faraday cage, on these artifacts is raised.

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TL;DR
The presence of a stripe of artifact on the final MRI image would logically entail multiple points of frequency information on the actual (Fourier space) data acquisition; however, a zipper artifact is the result of a systematic corruption of a specific frequency. Why wouldn't it, then, manifest itself throughout the entire final image, as opposed to a single vertical stripe?
he so-called [herringbone or spike MRI artifact][1] on a given example could be traced to a specific point(s) in Fourier space ("k-space").

The idea is that during the acquisition of the image, a certain RF wave emitted by the patient (providing the info about diseased or normal anatomy) had become distorted by some extraneous RF interference, and sampled as such through a DFT process into Fourier space (k space). After producing the reverse FFT, that dot of artifact affected the whole image in a striped pattern:

sUbsh.png


There is another RF-interference artifact in MRI, called [zipper-artifact][3], manifested on the clinical images is as a thin stripe up and down:

EzWjA.png


In the case of the zipper artifact there is a corruption of the signal sent back to the RF antenna from the patient being scanned, affecting a particular, specific frequency, which logically matches the polluting source. This frequency-specific phenomenon would affect each signal collected in the process of filling in k space. In contradistinction, a zipper artifact occurs at a single point in time, showing a dot in k-space.

The question is:

If every point of information in k-space (Fourier space) in MRI affects the entire reconstructed image after performing a reverse FFT, how can a frequency-specific problem in Fourier space produce a single vertical stripe on image space - as opposed to affecting the whole image as in the herringbone artifact above?
 
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What do you get when you take the FFT of a single frequency?
 
Dale said:
What do you get when you take the FFT of a single frequency?
Are you referring to a single point in 2D Fourier space? That would yield a stripped pattern on image space. But I know you are most likely not making reference to this.
 
Are you referring to a single point in 2D Fourier space?
No, I am asking for what you get when you transform a pure sin wave.
 
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member 664596 said:
[text removed] In the case of the zipper artifact there is a corruption of the signal sent back to the RF antenna from the patient being scanned, affecting a particular, specific frequency, which logically matches the polluting source. This frequency-specific phenomenon would affect each signal collected in the process of filling in k space. In contradistinction, a zipper artifact occurs at a single point in time, showing a dot in k-space.

The question is:

If every point of information in k-space (Fourier space) in MRI affects the entire reconstructed image after performing a reverse FFT, how can a frequency-specific problem in Fourier space produce a single vertical stripe on image space - as opposed to affecting the whole image as in the herringbone artifact above?

Were the patients in the herringbone and zipper artifact examples enclosed in a Faraday cage during imaging?
 

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