What happens to spatial resolution when the phase matrix is increased?

When the phase matrix is increased, spatial resolution improves. The phase matrix refers to the number of frequency encoding steps in MRI, which contributes to the overall spatial resolution of an image. A higher phase matrix means more phase encoding steps are used, which allows for a finer sampling of the image data. This increased sampling leads to greater detail and clarity in the resulting images, thus enhancing spatial resolution.

To elaborate, spatial resolution is fundamentally about the ability to distinguish small structures within the image. By increasing the phase matrix, the system can capture more information about the spatial distribution of signals within the tissue, resulting in a more detailed representation. This is vital in clinical imaging where precision is crucial for accurate diagnosis.

In contrast, lowering the phase matrix would yield a coarser image with less detail, affecting the ability to resolve smaller features. Therefore, the relationship between an increased phase matrix and improved spatial resolution is a key concept in MRI technology and imaging quality.