BALBARADA, ZHANE A.

1. What does MRI stand for?

A) Magnetic Resonance Imaging
B) Metabolic Radiation Imaging
C) Molecular Radioactive Interface
D) Mechanical Resonance Indicator

Correct Answer: A – Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Rationale: MRI is the acronym for Magnetic Resonance Imaging, which uses magnetic fields and radio
waves.

2. What was MRI originally called?

A) X-ray Tomography
B) Nuclear Magnetic Resonance
C) Radioactive Imaging
D) Proton Emission Scanning

Correct Answer: B – Nuclear Magnetic Resonance

Rationale: MRI was originally termed Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy before clinical
imaging applications.

3. What is MRI's main advantage?

A) Best spatial resolution
B) Lowest cost procedure
C) Best contrast resolution
D) Fastest scan time

Correct Answer: C – Best contrast resolution

Rationale: MRI's primary advantage is superior soft tissue contrast resolution without ionizing radiation.

4. Which patients are contraindicated for MRI?

A) Those with metal implants
B) Pregnant women
C) Diabetic patients
D) Hypertensive patients

Correct Answer: A – Those with metal implants

Rationale: Metal implants may heat up or move in the magnetic field, making MRI unsafe.

5. What occurs when protons are exposed to a magnetic field?

A) They stop moving
B) Alignment and precession occur
C) They emit radiation
D) They change atomic number

Correct Answer: B – Alignment and precession occur

Rationale: External magnetic fields cause proton alignment and precession (wobble).

6. What happens when RF pulses are turned off?

A) Resonance stops
B) Relaxation occurs
C) Protons freeze
D) Magnetic field collapses

Correct Answer: B – Relaxation occurs

Rationale: When RF stops, protons relax back to equilibrium, emitting detectable signals.

7. What type of material is gadolinium?

A) Diamagnetic
B) Paramagnetic
C) Ferromagnetic
D) Non-magnetic

Correct Answer: B – Paramagnetic

Rationale: Gadolinium is a paramagnetic contrast agent that enhances MRI signals.

8. What is used for MRI main magnets?

A) Paramagnetic materials
B) Diamagnetic materials
C) Ferromagnetic materials
D) Plastic materials
Correct Answer: C – Ferromagnetic materials
Rationale: Superconducting magnets use ferromagnetic materials like niobium-titanium alloys.

9. Which nucleus is most used in clinical MRI?

A) Oxygen-17
B) Hydrogen-1
C) Carbon-13
D) Sodium-23

Correct Answer: B – Hydrogen-1

Rationale: Hydrogen's abundance and strong magnetic moment make it ideal for MRI.

10. What does B0 represent?

A) RF pulse strength
B) Main magnetic field
C) Gradient field
D) Patient temperature

Correct Answer: B – Main magnetic field

Rationale: B0 denotes the static external magnetic field strength in tesla (T).

11. What is the purpose of shim coils?

A) Cool the magnet
B) Improve field homogeneity
C) Generate RF pulses
D) Shield the patient

Correct Answer: B – Improve field homogeneity

Rationale: Shim coils correct magnetic field inhomogeneities for uniform imaging.

12. Which coil provides the highest SNR?

A) Body coil
B) Head coil
C) Surface coil
D) Phased array coil

Correct Answer: C – Surface coil

Rationale: Surface coils placed close to anatomy provide superior signal-to-noise ratio.

13. What do gradient magnets control?

A) Slice selection
B) Patient temperature
C) RF pulse duration
D) Magnet quenching

Correct Answer: A – Slice selection

Rationale: Gradients (X/Y/Z) spatially encode signals for slice selection and localization.

14. What is precession?

A) Proton spin alignment
B) Wobble around magnetic field
C) Random proton motion
D) Electron orbit change

Correct Answer: B – Wobble around magnetic field

Rationale: Precession is the secondary wobble of protons around B0 at the Larmor frequency.

15. What determines Larmor frequency?

A) RF pulse duration
B) Gyromagnetic ratio × B0
C) Patient weight
D) Room temperature

Correct Answer: B – Gyromagnetic ratio × B0

Rationale: ω₀ = γB₀, where γ is the gyromagnetic ratio (42.58 MHz/T for hydrogen).

16. What creates phase coherence?

A) Turning off gradients
B) Applying RF pulses
C) Cooling the magnet
D) Patient movement

Correct Answer: B – Applying RF pulses

Rationale: RF pulses synchronize proton precession, creating phase-coherent signals.

17. What occurs during relaxation?

A) Energy absorption
B) Signal emission
C) Proton freezing
D) Magnet shutdown

Correct Answer: B – Signal emission

Rationale: Relaxation releases energy as detectable MR signals during T1/T2 recovery.

18. Short TR enhances what?

A) T2 weighting
B) T1 weighting
C) Proton density
D) Diffusion effects

Correct Answer: B – T1 weighting

Rationale: Short TR (repetition time) increases T1 tissue contrast in images.

19. Where is longitudinal magnetization?

A) X-axis
B) Y-axis
C) Z-axis
D) All axes

Correct Answer: C – Z-axis

Rationale: Longitudinal magnetization (Mz) aligns with B₀ along the Z-axis.

20. What does a 90° RF pulse create?

A) Pure T1 contrast
B) Transverse magnetization
C) No signal
D) Inversion recovery

Correct Answer: B – Transverse magnetization

Rationale: 90° pulses flip net magnetization completely into the transverse (XY) plane.

21. What causes FID signal decay?

A) T1 recovery
B) T2 dephasing
C) RF heating
D) Gradient failure

Correct Answer: B – T2 dephasing

Rationale: Free Induction Decay (FID) results from T2* (spin-spin relaxation + field inhomogeneities).

22. Which magnet type uses liquid helium?

A) Resistive
B) Permanent
C) Superconducting
D) Electromagnet

Correct Answer: C – Superconducting

Rationale: Superconducting magnets require liquid helium (4K) to maintain zero resistance.

23. What occurs during quenching?

A) Magnet shutdown
B) Signal enhancement
C) Patient warming
D) Image distortion

Correct Answer: A – Magnet shutdown

Rationale: Quenching is emergency magnet shutdown with helium boil-off.

24. What improves SNR in phased arrays?

A) Larger coil size
B) Multiple receivers
C) Higher B₀
D) Longer TR

Correct Answer: B – Multiple receivers

Rationale: Phased arrays combine signals from multiple coils for better SNR and coverage.

25. Which gradient selects axial slices?

A) X
B) Y
C) Z
D) All

Correct Answer: C – Z
Rationale: Z-gradient alters field strength along the bore's long axis for axial slices.

26. Where is the isocenter?

A) Magnet entrance
B) Gradient intersection
C) Patient table
D) RF coil

Correct Answer: B – Gradient intersection

Rationale: Isocenter is where X/Y/Z gradients and magnet bore axes intersect.
27. What characterizes ferromagnetic materials?
A) Weak attraction
B) No magnetization
C) Permanent magnetism
D) Signal reduction
Correct Answer: C – Permanent magnetism
Rationale: Ferromagnets retain magnetization after external field removal.

28. What does T1 measure?

A) Signal decay
B) 63% recovery
C) 37% decay
D) Proton density

Correct Answer: B – 63% recovery

Rationale: T1 is the time for 63% longitudinal magnetization recovery.

29. Fat appears bright in?

A) T1
B) T2
C) PD
D) Diffusion

Correct Answer: A – T1
Rationale: Fat's short T1 yields high signal (bright) on T1-weighted images.

30. Water appears bright in?

A) T1
B) T2
C) Both
D) Neither

Correct Answer: B – T2
Rationale: Water's long T2 produces high signal on T2-weighted sequences.

31. What controls T2 weighting?

A) TR
B) TE
C) Flip angle
D) Bandwidth

Correct Answer: B – TE
Rationale: Echo time (TE) determines T2 contrast (long TE = more T2 weighting).

32. What is Mxy responsible for?

A) Patient heating
B) MR signal
C) Slice selection
D) Magnet cooling

Correct Answer: B – MR signal

Rationale: Transverse magnetization (Mxy) induces detectable RF signals in coils.

33. What happens to Mz after 180° pulse?

A) Doubles
B) Inverts
C) Vanishes
D) Oscillates

Correct Answer: B – Inverts

Rationale: 180° pulses flip Mz to the negative Z-axis (inversion recovery).

34. What is the primary function of K-space in MRI?

A) Store patient demographic data
B) Contain raw MRI signal data before reconstruction
C) Control magnet temperature
D) Generate RF pulses

Correct Answer: B – Contain raw MRI signal data before reconstruction

Rationale: K-space stores the encoded MRI signal data that is later transformed into images via Fourier
transform.

35. Which K-space lines contribute most to image contrast?

A) Outer peripheral lines
B) Central lines
C) Leftmost lines
D) Rightmost lines
Correct Answer: B – Central lines
Rationale: The center of K-space contains low-frequency data that determines overall image contrast.

36. What increases Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR)?

A) Decreasing TR
B) Increasing bandwidth
C) Using larger coils
D) Increasing NSA
Correct Answer: D – Increasing NSA
Rationale: Number of Signal Averages (NSA) improves SNR by repeated signal sampling.

37. Which tissue appears brightest on T1-weighted images?

A) CSF
B) Fat
C) Muscle
D) Water

Correct Answer: B – Fat

Rationale: Fat's short T1 relaxation time produces high signal on T1-weighted sequences.

38. What is the typical TR range for T2-weighted imaging?

A) <600ms
B) 300-3000ms
C) >2000ms
D) 10-100ms

Correct Answer: C – >2000ms

Rationale: Long TR (>2000ms) reduces T1 weighting and allows T2 effects to dominate.

39. Which artifact appears as alternating bright/dark lines?

A) Chemical shift
B) Zipper
C) Truncation
D) Aliasing

Correct Answer: B – Zipper

Rationale: Zipper artifacts appear as alternating lines, often from RF interference.

40. What is the main advantage of GRE sequences?

A) Better T1 contrast
B) Faster scan times
C) Higher SNR
D) Reduced artifacts

Correct Answer: B – Faster scan times

Rationale: Gradient Recalled Echo sequences are significantly faster than spin echo.

41. Which sequence uses 180° inversion pulses?

A) Spin echo
B) Inversion recovery
C) Gradient echo
D) Echo planar

Correct Answer: B – Inversion recovery

Rationale: IR sequences begin with a 180° inversion pulse followed by 90° excitation.

42. What does STIR suppress?

A) Water signal
B) Fat signal
C) CSF signal
D) Bone signal

Correct Answer: B – Fat signal

Rationale: Short Tau Inversion Recovery specifically suppresses fat signal.

43. FLAIR is particularly useful for?

A) Cardiac imaging
B) Musculoskeletal imaging
C) Neuroradiology
D) Abdominal imaging

Correct Answer: C – Neuroradiology

Rationale: FLAIR suppresses CSF signal, highlighting brain pathology.

44. EPI can acquire images in?

A) Hours
B) Minutes
C) Seconds
D) Milliseconds

Correct Answer: D – Milliseconds

Rationale: Echo Planar Imaging is ultra-fast, acquiring images in <100ms.

45. What primarily causes motion artifacts?

A) Metal implants
B) Patient movement
C) Magnet quench
D) RF interference
Correct Answer: B – Patient movement
Rationale: Respiration, cardiac motion, or patient movement cause blurring/ghosting.

46. Chemical shift artifact occurs between?

A) Fat and water
B) Bone and muscle
C) CSF and brain
D) Air and tissue

Correct Answer: A – Fat and water

Rationale: Different precession frequencies cause spatial misregistration.

47. Magic angle artifact affects?

A) Brain tissue
B) Tendons and ligaments
C) Abdominal organs
D) Blood vessels

Correct Answer: B – Tendons and ligaments

Rationale: Occurs when fibrous structures are oriented at 55° to B0.

48. What increases spatial resolution?

A) Larger FOV
B) Thicker slices
C) Smaller matrix
D) Decreased pixel size

Correct Answer: D – Decreased pixel size

Rationale: Smaller pixels improve resolution but decrease SNR.

49. Which is NOT a K-space axis?

A) Frequency
B) Phase
C) Amplitude
D) Both A and B

Correct Answer: C – Amplitude

Rationale: K-space has frequency and phase axes.

50. Long TE produces?

A) T1 weighting
B) T2 weighting
C) PD weighting
D) Diffusion weighting

Correct Answer: B – T2 weighting

Rationale: Long TE allows T2 decay to influence image contrast.

51. What does TR primarily affect?

A) T1 weighting
B) T2 weighting
C) Proton density
D) Flow effects

Correct Answer: A – T1 weighting

Rationale: TR controls the amount of longitudinal magnetization recovery (T1).

52. Which sequence uses multiple 180° pulses?

A) GRE
B) FSE
C) IR
D) EPI

Correct Answer: B – FSE

Rationale: Fast Spin Echo uses an echo train of multiple 180° refocusing pulses.

53. Increased bandwidth?

A) Improves SNR
B) Reduces chemical shift
C) Increases scan time
D) Decreases resolution

Correct Answer: B – Reduces chemical shift

Rationale: Wider bandwidth decreases chemical shift artifact but increases noise.

54. Which is true about FOV?

A) Larger FOV increases resolution
B) Smaller FOV decreases SNR
C) FOV doesn't affect scan time
D) FOV only affects slice thickness
Correct Answer: B – Smaller FOV decreases SNR
Rationale: Smaller FOV improves resolution but reduces the signal volume.

55. What is the main disadvantage of IR sequences?

A) Poor image quality
B) Long scan times
C) Limited anatomy
D) High artifact levels

Correct Answer: B – Long scan times

Rationale: Inversion recovery requires long TR intervals, increasing scan duration.

56. Which sequence is most sensitive to magnetic susceptibility?

A) Spin echo
B) Gradient echo
C) Inversion recovery
D) Fast spin echo

Correct Answer: B – Gradient echo

Rationale: GRE lacks 180° refocusing pulses, making it sensitive to field inhomogeneities.

57. What does TE stand for?

A) Time of excitation
B) Time to echo
C) Tissue enhancement
D) Temporal encoding

Correct Answer: B – Time to echo

Rationale: TE is the time between RF excitation and signal reception.

58. Which factor does NOT improve SNR?

A) Increased NSA
B) Decreased bandwidth
C) Larger voxels
D) Longer TE

Correct Answer: D – Longer TE

Rationale: Longer TE increases T2 weighting but decreases SNR due to signal decay.

59. What is the flip angle range for GRE?

A) Exactly 90°
B) Exactly 180°
C) Less than 90°
D) More than 180°
Correct Answer: C – Less than 90°
Rationale: GRE typically uses flip angles <90° (often 10-70°) for faster imaging.

60. Truncation artifacts appear as?

A) Ghosting
B) Zipper lines
C) Edge ringing
D) Fat-water misregistration

Correct Answer: C – Edge ringing

Rationale: Also called Gibbs artifacts, they appear as alternating bands at sharp interfaces.

61. Which is NOT a characteristic of PD-weighted images?

A) Long TR
B) Short TE
C) High contrast
D) Small flip angle

Correct Answer: C – High contrast

Rationale: PD images have relatively low contrast compared to T1/T2 weighting.
62. What primarily determines voxel size?
A) FOV and matrix
B) TR and TE
C) Flip angle
D) Bandwidth

Correct Answer: A – FOV and matrix

Rationale: Voxel size is calculated by dividing the field of view (FOV) by the matrix size along each
dimension.

63. Which is true about EPI?

A) Uses multiple excitations
B) Fills K-space in one shot
C) Has poor temporal resolution
D) Only used for cardiac imaging
Correct Answer: B – Fills K-space in one shot
Rationale: Echo Planar Imaging acquires all K-space lines in a single excitation.

64. What causes aliasing artifacts?

A) Patient motion
B) FOV smaller than anatomy
C) Metal implants
D) RF interference

Correct Answer: B – FOV smaller than anatomy

Rationale: Aliasing (wrap-around) occurs when anatomy extends beyond the defined field of view (FOV),
causing phase mismapping in the frequency-encoding direction.

65. Which sequence would best visualize tendons?

A) T1-weighted
B) T2-weighted
C) STIR
D) FLAIR

Correct Answer: C – STIR

Rationale: STIR suppresses fat signal, improving tendon visualization.

66. What is the primary use of FLAIR?

A) Fat suppression
B) CSF suppression
C) Bone marrow imaging
D) Angiography

Correct Answer: B – CSF suppression

Rationale: Fluid Attenuated IR suppresses CSF to highlight periventricular lesions.

67. Crisscross artifact is also called?

A) Gibbs artifact
B) Herringbone
C) Chemical shift
D) Zipper

Correct Answer: B – Herringbone

Rationale: This data processing error creates a characteristic crosshatch pattern.

68. What is the primary unit for measuring K-space data?

A) Tesla (T)
B) Radians per centimeter
C) Hertz (Hz)
D) Milliseconds

Correct Answer: B – Radians per centimeter

Rationale: K-space data is expressed in spatial frequency units (rad/cm), representing phase and
frequency encoding.

69. Which component contributes MOST to spatial resolution?

A) Center of K-space
B) Outer lines of K-space
C) Phase encoding direction
D) Frequency encoding direction

Correct Answer: B – Outer lines of K-space

Rationale: The periphery of K-space contains high-frequency data that determines edge detail and
spatial resolution.

70. To reduce scan time while maintaining SNR, you would?

A) Increase NSA and decrease matrix
B) Decrease TR and increase TE
C) Use a larger coil and increase bandwidth
D) Decrease FOV and increase slice thickness

Correct Answer: A – Increase NSA and decrease matrix

Rationale: More signal averages (NSA) boost SNR, while smaller matrix reduces phase-encoding steps.

71. Which tissue has the SHORTEST T2 relaxation time?

A) CSF
B) Gray matter
C) Tendon
D) Fat

Correct Answer: C – Tendon

Rationale: Fibrous tissues like tendons have rapid T2 decay due to restricted water mobility.

72. A "truncation artifact" typically appears?

A) As ghosting in the phase direction
B) At tissue interfaces with high contrast
C) Throughout the entire image uniformly
D) Only in gradient echo sequences
Correct Answer: B – At tissue interfaces with high contrast
Rationale: Gibbs/truncation artifacts manifest as alternating bright/dark lines at sharp boundaries.

73. Which parameter is MOST critical for T1-weighting?

A) Long TE
B) Short TR
C) Small flip angle
D) High bandwidth

Correct Answer: B – Short TR

Rationale: Short TR (<600ms) maximizes T1 contrast by limiting longitudinal recovery time.

74. The "magic angle" phenomenon occurs at?

A) 0° to B₀
B) 55° to B₀
C) 90° to B₀
D) 180° to B₀

Correct Answer: B – 55° to B₀

Rationale: At 55°, dipole-dipole interactions in ordered tissues (tendons) minimize, increasing signal.

75. To optimize PD-weighted imaging, you would use?

A) Short TR/short TE
B) Long TR/short TE
C) Short TR/long TE
D) Long TR/long TE

Correct Answer: B – Long TR/short TE

Rationale: Long TR minimizes T1 effects; short TE reduces T2 weighting, leaving proton density contrast.

76. Which sequence would BEST suppress CSF signal?

A) STIR
B) FLAIR
C) GRE
D) SPGR

Correct Answer: B – FLAIR

Rationale: Fluid-Attenuated IR uses long TI (~2000ms) to null CSF signal while preserving pathology.

77. To reduce chemical shift artifact, you would?

A) Increase bandwidth
B) Decrease TE
C) Use a surface coil
D) Apply fat saturation

Correct Answer: A – Increase bandwidth

Rationale: Higher bandwidth decreases the pixel shift between fat/water by sampling frequencies faster.

78. Which is TRUE about EPI?

A) Uses repeated 180° pulses
B) Requires high-performance gradients
C) Has poor temporal resolution
D) Cannot be used with diffusion weighting

Correct Answer: B – Requires high-performance gradients

Rationale: Echo Planar Imaging needs ultra-fast gradient switching to traverse K-space in one shot.

79. The "zipper artifact" is caused by?

A) Patient motion
B) RF leakage
C) Magnetic field inhomogeneity
D) Gradient failure

Correct Answer: B – RF leakage

Rationale: Zipper artifacts (alternating bright/dark lines) stem from RF interference during signal
acquisition.

80. Which nucleus has the HIGHEST gyromagnetic ratio?

A) Hydrogen-1
B) Carbon-13
C) Phosphorus-31
D) Sodium-23

Correct Answer: A – Hydrogen-1

Rationale: ¹H has γ=42.58 MHz/T, the highest of clinically relevant nuclei, yielding strongest MR signal.

81. Which magnet type has the HIGHEST operating cost?

A) Permanent
B) Resistive
C) Superconducting
D) They are equal
Correct Answer: B – Resistive
Rationale: Resistive magnets consume 80 kW continuously to maintain field, unlike superconducting
(cryogen-cooled) or permanent magnets.

82. The "herringbone artifact" is resolved by?

A) Increasing NSA
B) Reconstructing the image
C) Applying shimming
D) Using a spin echo sequence

Correct Answer: B – Reconstructing the image

Rationale: Crisscross/herringbone artifacts arise from data processing errors and often disappear with
reconstruction.

83. Which factor does NOT affect K-space filling?

A) Echo train length
B) Receiver bandwidth
C) Patient weight
D) Matrix size

Correct Answer: C – Patient weight

Rationale: K-space filling depends on acquisition parameters (matrix, ETL, bandwidth), not patient
characteristics.

84. The "view-sharing" technique is used in?

A) Time-resolved MRA
B) Diffusion tensor imaging
C) MR spectroscopy
D) Spin echo sequences

Correct Answer: A – Time-resolved MRA

Rationale: View-sharing prioritizes updating central K-space for dynamic contrast-enhanced studies.

85. Which sequence uses balanced gradients in all axes?

A) SPGR
B) TrueFISP
C) FLAIR
D) STIR

Correct Answer: B – TrueFISP

Rationale: Balanced steady-state free precession maintains gradient moment nulling across all
directions.

86. To reduce specific absorption rate (SAR) in 3T MRI, you would?

A) Increase flip angle
B) Use GRE instead of SE
C) Lengthen TR
D) Decrease bandwidth

Correct Answer: B – Use GRE instead of SE

Rationale: Gradient echo sequences avoid 180° pulses, significantly reducing RF energy deposition.

87. Which artifact appears as focal signal voids near metal?

A) Chemical shift
B) Susceptibility
C) Truncation
D) Aliasing

Correct Answer: B – Susceptibility

Rationale: Magnetic susceptibility differences near metal cause local field distortions and signal loss.

88. The "N/2 ghost" artifact occurs in?

A) Spin echo
B) EPI
C) Inversion recovery
D) Proton density

Correct Answer: B – EPI

Rationale: Even-echo phase errors in EPI create ghost images at half the FOV (N/2).

89. Which is NOT a property of liquid helium in superconducting magnets?

A) Cools to 4K
B) Provides thermal insulation
C) Boils off during quench
D) Conducts electricity

Correct Answer: D – Conducts electricity

Rationale: Liquid helium is electrically insulating; its role is cooling, not conduction.

90. To minimize eddy current artifacts, modern systems use?

A) Active shielding
B) Passive shimming
C) Higher bandwidth
D) Larger FOV
Correct Answer: A – Active shielding
Rationale: Shielded gradient coils reduce induced currents in conductive structures.

91. Which pulse sequence timing diagram represents FSE?

A) 90°-180°-180°-180°
B) 180°-90°-180°
C) α-α-α (α<90°)
D) 90°-gradient echo

Correct Answer: A – 90°-180°-180°-180°

Rationale: Fast spin echo uses a 90° excitation followed by multiple 180° refocusing pulses.

92. The "dielectric effect" is most prominent at?

A) 0.5T
B) 1.5T
C) 3T
D) 7T

Correct Answer: D – 7T
Rationale: Higher frequencies at ultra-high fields cause wave interference in tissues.

93. Which contrast mechanism is unique to GRE?

A) T1 relaxation
B) T2* decay
C) Proton density
D) Diffusion

Correct Answer: B – T2* decay

Rationale: Gradient echoes lack 180° refocusing, making them sensitive to T2* effects.

94. To reduce wrap-around artifact, you would?

A) Increase NSA
B) Use saturation bands
C) Decrease matrix
D) Apply parallel imaging

Correct Answer: B – Use saturation bands

Rationale: Pre-saturation pulses suppress signal from anatomy outside the FOV.

95. Which is TRUE about parallel imaging?

A) Increases scan time
B) Requires phased-array coils
C) Reduces SNR linearly
D) Uses higher flip angles

Correct Answer: B – Requires phased-array coils

Rationale: Parallel imaging (SENSE, GRAPPA) leverages multiple coil elements to accelerate
acquisition.
96. The "central bright spot" artifact in bSSFP occurs when?
A) TR > T2
B) TR ≈ 2T1
C) TR < T2
D) TR = T2*

Correct Answer: A – TR > T2

Rationale: Balanced SSFP develops banding artifacts when TR exceeds tissue T2 times.

97. Which sequence would BEST visualize hemorrhage?

A) T1-weighted GRE
B) T2-weighted FSE
C) SWI
D) FLAIR

Correct Answer: C – SWI

Rationale: Susceptibility-weighted imaging accentuates magnetic field distortions from blood products.

98. To minimize acoustic noise during scanning, you would?

A) Use spin echo sequences
B) Activate "quiet mode" gradients
C) Increase receiver bandwidth
D) Decrease slice thickness

Correct Answer: B – Activate "quiet mode" gradients

Rationale: Slower gradient ramping reduces Lorentz force vibrations and noise.

99. Which is NOT a characteristic of 3D acquisitions?

A) Phase encoding in slice direction
B) Higher SNR than 2D
C) Longer scan times
D) Thicker minimum slices
Correct Answer: D – Thicker minimum slices
Rationale: 3D MRI allows thinner slices than 2D by encoding the third dimension.

100. The "conus medullaris" artifact refers to?

A) CSF pulsation in spine
B) Magic angle in tendons
C) Chemical shift at kidneys
D) Susceptibility near sinuses

Correct Answer: A – CSF pulsation in spine

Rationale: The conus medullaris artifact is a CSF pulsation-induced MRI artifact causing ghosting near
the spinal cord's tapered end, often reduced with flow compensation or cardiac gating.