Other

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The Brigham and Women's Hospital, Inc.

Daniel F Kacher

Ferenc A Jolesz

Moustapha Hafez

Steven Dubowsky

Stephan E Maier

Matthew Lichter

Peter Weiss

Andreas Wingert

Walid E Kyriakos

The present invention is directed to devices and systems used in magnetic imaging environments that include an actuator device having an elastomeric dielectric film with at least two electrodes, and a frame attached to the actuator device. The frame can have a plurality of configurations including, such as, for example, at least two members that can be, but not limited to, curved beams, rods, plates, or parallel beams. These rigid members can be coupled to flexible members such as, for example, links wherein the frame provides an elastic restoring force. The frame preferably provides a linear actuation force characteristic over a displacement range. The linear actuation force characteristic is defined as &#xb1;20% and preferably 10% over a displacement range. The actuator further includes a passive element disposed between the flexible members to tune a stiffness characteristic of the actuator. The passive element can be a bi-stable element. The preferred embodiment actuator includes one or more layers of the elastomeric film integrated into the frame. The elastomeric film can be made of many elastomeric materials such as, for example, but not limited to, acrylic, silicone and latex.

Elastomeric actuator devices for magnetic resonance imaging

An apparatus and method for decreasing image acquisition and reconstruction times in magnetic resonance imaging are provided. Magnetic resonance data is acquired in parallel by an array of separate RF receiver coils disposed at generally circumferentially-spaced locations relative to one another around the imaging volume defined by the body coil of a magnetic resonance imaging apparatus. Further, the image reconstruction also is performed in parallel, thereby shortening up image display times. The apparatus and method operate on the basis of determining an estimate of the sensitivity profile of each RF coil in the array, and thereafter, utilizing those profiles in the creation of a desired image by encoding later acquired magnetic resonance data from a body of interest disposed in the imaging volume of the magnetic resonance imaging apparatus. An apparatus and a method for refining the initial calibration estimate of the sensitivity profile of each of the various RF coils in the array according to the load applied thereto by the object being imaged also are provided.

Apparatus and method for parallel MR data acquisition and parallel image reconstruction from multiple receiver coil arrays for fast MRI

Apparatus and method for generating and displaying undistorted images of a field of view containing undesirable motion and/or time varying magnetic field inhomogeneities, uses a time series of magnetic resonance (MR) image signals, corresponding to a time series of MR images, generated by a single-shot imaging technique without shot-to-shot phase encoding. Signals are stored and analyzed to identify missing and/or deteriorated images (including image portions, image lines or image line segments). Identified missing and/or deteriorated images are compensated for by replacement, repair or otherwise. MR image signals representative of a specified time series are selected. Then, selected signals of corresponding portions of the field of view are averaged. The invention may be used to present: a continuously updated time series of images; a time series of images with only a specified portions of the image updated in each display; or an entire time series of images re-created in any desired sequence.

Continuous magnetic resonance line-scan imaging in the presence of motion and varying magnetic field inhomogeneities within the field of view

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Allston, MA, United States of America

Daniel F Kacher