This book addresses quality assurance in general and image artifacts in particular. A brief introduction to the concepts of spin-echo imaging including instrumental variables and pulse techniques are presented. Quantities which can be measured including spatial linearity, spatial resolution, slice geometry, and signal-to-noise ratio are discussed. Some examples of available phantoms are demonstrated along with the images that they produce. Electronic measurements are briefly reviewed without any specific quantitative data. NMR measurements including resonance, tip angle adjustments, spin density measurements, and T1 and T2 relaxation rates are discussed. These first chapters are relatively nonspecific and add little to the book's value.
The best part of this handbook begins with Chapter 9 on image artifacts. The authors make a good effort to show specific image examples of each artifact and organize these examples into a table which points out the various origins of each. They then follow this section with chapters on how to deal with artifacts caused by improper patient screening and patient motion, including the flow phenomenon. Finally, they treat instrumental artifacts including those caused by data acquisition failures and image processing errors. In the last brief section they discuss chemical-shift artifacts and spin diffusion.
In summary, this book does not make any claims about addressing underlying theory but instead provides a wealth of good image examples of the lunds of artifacts one can expect to encounter in day-to-day clinical imaging. Those who are responsible for maintaining image quality should find this book useful in quickly identifying the majority of image artifacts found in spin-echo imaging.