General Electric Company

Leland Stanford Junior University

Ge Medical Systems Global Technology Company, LLC

University of California

Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation

Jean Helen Brittain

Scott Brian Reeder

Ajit Shankaranarayanan

John Mark Pauly

Charles McKenzie

David Henry Gurr

Graham Arnold Wright

Steven D Wolff

Reed Frederick Busse

Huanzhou Yu

Andres Carrillo

Norbert Joseph Pelc

Graeme Colin McKinnon

Brian A Hargreaves

Philip James Beatty

Dwight G Nishimura

Xiaoli Zhao

Ajeetkumar Gaddipati

James Hartman Holmes

Anja C S Brau

Ann Shimakawa

Zhiqiang Li

Howard Andrew Rowley

Anja Brau

Gregory G Zaharchuk

A method includes the acts of acquiring a blade of k-space calibration data; acquiring a set of T1-weighted k-space imaging data, the set of T1-weighted k-space imaging data having blades of undersampled k-space data rotated about a section of k-space. Each blade of undersampled k-space data includes first data points having acquired data and second data points that are missing data. The method also includes generating a set of reconstruction weights for the blades of undersampled k-space data using the blade of k-space calibration data; synthesizing k-space data for at least a portion of the second data points using the set of reconstruction weights; and generating a T1-weighted image using the T1-weighted k-space imaging data and the synthesized k-space data.

Motion correction in accelerated T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging

A method for a medical examination is provided. The method includes acquiring at least two datasets that include data acquired at a plurality of points that lie along at least two lines through a center of k-space, reconstructing the at least two datasets to generate an image, and outputting the image.

Systems and methods for phase encode placement

A system and method for MR imaging is disclosed that includes displaying a series of MR images of an ROI in real-time and localizing a slice within the ROI. The method also includes using a parallel imaging technique to acquire gated MR data from the localized slice and reconstructing a prescribed fixed number of gated MR images of the localized slice.

System and method for real-time localization for gated MR imaging

A preparatory pulse sequence is applied prior to an imaging pulse sequence during a diffusion-weighted MRI scan. The preparatory pulse sequence diffusion weights the longitudinal magnetization using a gradient waveform that is first moment nulled to reduce image artifacts caused by patient motion.

Diffusion weighted preparatory sequence for magnetic resonance imaging pulse sequence

A system and method for determining motion in a region-of-interest directly from MR data acquired from the region-of-interest and independently of k-space trajectory are disclosed.

Method and system of determining motion in a region-of-interest directly and independently of k-space trajectory

A method for a medical examination is described. The method includes polar phase encoding to generate a plurality of signals forming datasets representative of an object, where the datasets form a grid in polar coordinates in a k-space.

A method for generating a magnetic resonance images is provided. A first species signal for a first species is generated from magnetic resonance data. A second signal is generated from the magnetic resonance data. The first species signal is combined with the second signal to provide a recombined image. The recombined image may be displayed.

MRI methods for combining separate species and quantifying a species

A method for generating a self-calibrating parallel multiecho magnetic resonance image is provided. A magnetic resonance imaging excitation is applied. A first echo at a first echo time in a first pattern is acquired. A second echo at a second echo time different from the first echo phase in a second pattern different from the first pattern is acquired. The acquired first echo and acquired second echo are used to generate an image in an image pattern, wherein none of the acquired echoes for generating the image have the same pattern as the image pattern.

Self-calibration methods for parallel imaging and multipoint water-fat separation methods

A method for generating dynamic magnetic resonance images is provided. A cyclical magnetic resonance imaging excitation is applied for a plurality of cycles at a cycle rate. A plurality of magnetic resonance image echoes is acquired for each cycle. A plurality of frames of images is generated from the acquired plurality of magnetic resonance echoes at a frame rate that is at least twice the cycle rate, wherein each frame of the plurality of frames is generated from a plurality of echoes and wherein some of the plurality of frames are generated from magnetic resonance image echoes of adjacent cycles.

Sliding window reconstruction and phase/field map updating for dynamic chemical shift imaging

The present invention is directed to slice selective magnetization preparation for moving table MRI. The present invention includes a method of magnetization preparation that takes into account patient movement or translation during the imaging process. The present invention adjusts or modifies the frequency at which magnetization preparation pulses are applied to offset the preparation pulse in space. This allows preparation pulses to be interleaved with imaging and enables magnetization preparation without sacrificing other imaging variables or parameters defined for the particular MR study. As such, contrast within a reconstructed image is improved.

Method and apparatus of slice selective magnetization preparation for moving table MRI

Homodyne image reconstruction is combined with an iterative decomposition of water and fat from MR signals obtained from a partial k-space signal acquisition in order to maximize the resolution of calculated water and fat images. The method includes asymmetrical acquisition of under-sampled MRI data, obtaining low resolution images, and then estimating a magnetic field map and phase maps of water and fat image signals from the low resolution images. The acquired data is again filtered and Fourier transformed to obtain an estimate of combined fat and water signals using the estimated magnetic field map and phase maps. Water and fat images are then estimated from which phases of the water and fat images are determined. The real parts of the water and fat images are then used in calculating water and fat images using a homodyne process.

Homodyne reconstruction of water and fat images based on iterative decomposition of MRI signals

The present invention is directed to a method and system of tissue or background suppression for the acquisition of image data from blood flow or tissue perfusion. Background suppression with minimal effects upon inflowing spins is achieved through a series of spin locking low level RF pulses that cause adiabatic demagnetization of tissue with a relaxation time T1-rho that is intermediate between T1 and T2 relaxation times. In this regard, the effective transverse magnetization of static tissue resulting from the application of a series of low level RF pulses is reduced and, with the spin locking, longitudinal magnetization regrowth is minimized. As such, inflowing spins to an imaging volume may be directly imaged with significant background tissue suppression. The present invention is particularly applicable to time-of-flight MRA and MR perfusion imaging.

Method and apparatus of background suppression in MR imaging using spin locking

One aspect of the invention is a method for reconstructing a moving table MR image. The method comprises receiving an input array that includes a plurality of uncorrected k-space data points. The method further comprises clearing a summation array. For uncorrected k-space data points in the input array the following steps are performed. A kernel associated with the k-space data point is obtained. Corrected data is created in response to the k-space data point, the input array and the kernel. Creating the corrected data includes correcting the uncorrected k-space data point for gradient non-linearities, where the correction is performed in k-space, and correcting the uncorrected k-space data point for table movement. The corrected data is added into the summation array. The image is reconstructed in response to the data in the summation array.

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Menlo Park, CA, United States of America

Jean Helen Brittain