Picker International, Inc.

John L Patrick, Iii

George J Misic

G Neil Holland

Mehrdad Mehdizadeh

Gregory C Hurst

Gordon D DeMeester

Paul T Orlando

E Mark Haacke

Aarne Lillo

Carolyn A Kershaw

Janice E Hahn

Nagarjuna R Linga

A resonance exciting coil (C) excites magnetic resonance in nuclei disposed in an image region in which a main magnetic field and transverse gradients have been produced. A flexible receiving coil (D) includes a flexible plastic sheet (40) on which one or more loops (20) are adhered to receive signals from the resonating nuclei. Velcro straps (46) strap the flexible sheet and the attached coil into close conformity with the surface of the portion of the patient to be imaged. An impedance matching or coil resonant frequency adjusting network (50) is mounted on the flexible sheet for selectively adjusting at least one of an impedance match and the peak sensitivity resonant frequency of the receiving coil. A preamplifier (52) amplifies the received signals prior to transmission on a cable (24). A selectively variable voltage source (70) applies a selectively adjustable DC bias voltage to the cable for selectively adjusting at least one of the impedance match and the LC resonant frequency of the receiving coil. The received signals are amplified by an amplifier (82) and processed by an image processor (30) to form man-readable images of the examined region of the patient for display on a video display (32) or the like.

Surface coil system for magnetic resonance imaging

An incomplete set of magnetic resonance image data is collected and stored in a view memory (40). The incomplete set of image data includes a central or first set of data values (42, 42') and half of the remaining data values (44, 44'). A symmetric data set which fills the other remaining half (46, 46') of the data values is generated (90) by determining the complex conjugate of each value of the incomplete data set. The incomplete and symmetric data sets are Fourier transformed (64, 94) to create first and second images f.sub.1 (x,y) and f.sub.2 (x,y). The first and second images are multiplied (100, 104) by conjugately symmetric phase correction values e.sup.i.phi.(x,y) and e.sup.-i.phi.(x,y) from a phase correction memory (70) to produce phase corrected images. The first and second phase corrected image representations are summed (110) and displayed (114). The phase correction values .phi.(x,y) may be derived (68) from the first image or from a phase image (86) derived (80, 82, 84) from a central or other portion of the acquired incomplete image data set.

Conjugate symmetry magnetic resonance imaging

Magnets (12) create a main magnetic field along a z-axis through an image region. A localized coil (D) is disposed in the image region at least to receive magnetic resonance signals from nuclei of the subject which have been induced to resonance. The localized coil includes an inner conductor (30), preferably a plate, which defines a current path extending along the z-axis. The inner conductor is mounted closely adjacent and parallel to a surface of the subject. An outer conductor (32), preferably also a plate, is mounted parallel to but further from the subject than the first conductor. A connecting member (34) interconnects a first end of the inner and outer conductors and is disposed perpendicular to the z-axis. A matching circuit (36) including capacitors (50) which define the resonant frequency of the coil are connected adjacent second ends of the inner and outer conductors. Because the nuclei induced to resonance within the z-axis magnetic field generate magnetic resonance components in the x-y plane, an optimal coupling is achieved to reception of the magnetic resonance signals.

Transverse field limited localized coil for magnetic resonance imaging

Magnet (12) creates a main magnetic field along a z-axis through an image region. A localized coil (D) is disposed in the image region at least to receive magnetic resonance signals from nuclei of the subject which have been induced to resonance. The localized coil includes an inner conductor (30), an outer conductor (32), and a dielectric material (52) therebetween. The outer conductor defines a gap (50) midway between its ends. One end of the inner conductor is connected with a gate of an FET transistor (66) and the outer conductor is connected with its source. The transistor source and drain are connected by a coaxial transmission cable (38) with a DC power supply (70) which provides a DC bias across the transistor source and drain. The cable also connects the transistor with a radio frequency receiver (40) to convey preamplified magnetic resonance signals thereto. The other end of the inner conductor may be connected with the outer conductor to provide an unbalanced localized coil or the ends may each be connected with an FET transistor (66a, 66 b) in a balanced coil arrangement (FIG. 9).

Faraday shield localized coil for magnetic resonance imaging

A nuclear magnetic resonance radio frequency coil. The disclosed coil provides high frequency resonance signals for perturbing a magnetic field within the coil. The coil is impedance matched and tuned with adjustable capacitors. A balanced configuration is achieved with a co-axial cable chosen to phase shift an energization signal coupled to the coil. The preferred coil is a thin metallic foil having a shorting conductor, four wing conductors, and uniquely shaped parallel cross conductors connecting the shorting and wing conductors. When mounted to an rf transmissive plastic substrate and energized the coil produces a homogenous field within a region of interest the size of a patient head. A semicircular balanced feedbar arrangement is used to minimize undesired field contributions.

Nuclear magnetic resonance radio frequency antenna

An incomplete set of magnetic resonance image data is collected and stored in a view memory (40). The incomplete set of image data includes a central or first set of data values (42, 42') and a side or second set of data values (44, 44'). The central data set is operated on by a roll-off filter (64) and a Fourier transform (66) to create a normalized phase map (72). The first and second data sets are Fourier transformed (82) and phase corrected (86) by being multiplied with a complex conjugate (88) of the corresponding phase map data value. A third data set (46, 46') is generated (90) by determining the complex conjugate of the second or side data set. The third data set is Fourier transformed (94) and multiplied (98) by a corresponding value from the phase map to produce a second phase corrected image representation. The first and second phase corrected image representations are summed (100) and stored in a resultant image memory (102).

The magnetic resonance signals in a magnetic resonance imaging apparatus are detected by a surface or localized coil assembly (D). To improve the field homogeneity and increase the signal-to-noise ratio when examining a region of interest deep within a subject, the surface coil assembly is configured with a first coil portion (22) and a second coil portion (24). The first coil portion is disposed along an exterior surface of the subject. The second coil portion is disposed parallel to the first coil portion and displaced outward a distance (44) from the first coil portion and the subject exterior surface. The first and second coil portions are electrically interconnected with an opposite current phase in a dipole pair such that the second current portion reduces the sensitivity of the first coil portion to magnetic resonance signals originating close to the surface of the subject.

Three dimensional localized coil for magnetic resonance imaging

A resonator coil assembly (32) includes a dielectric sleeve (40) on which a first resonator coil portion (42) and a second resonator coil portion (44), each of copper foil, are adhered. The dielectric sleeve is dimensioned to receive a human torso therein and in one embodiment (FIG. 1) is circular in cross section and in another (FIG. 4) is elliptical in cross section. A pair of adjustable tuning capacitances (64, 66) and a pair of adjustable matching capacitances (68, 70) are interconnected between one end of the each coil portion and a metal bore liner (54). An opposite end of the coil portions are capacitively coupled to each other (FIG. 1) or to the bore liner (FIG. 3). A half wave length cable (72) interconnects the junctions between the first and second tuning and matching capacitances. One of these junctions is connected by a cable (74) with a radio frequency generator (30) and a radio receiver (34).

Whole body MRI resonator

A magnetic field control (A) causes a magnetic field through an imaging region of a magnetic resonance spectrometer. A radio frequency generator (20) generates radio frequency signals which are transmitted on a transmission line (22) to a probe coil (C). Magnetic resonance signals received by the probe coil (C) are conveyed over the transmission line to a radio frequency receiver (24) for reconstruction into a magnetic resonance image. An inductive matching network (D) is connected between the probe coil and the transmission line for matching the resistive impedance of the coil with the resistive impedance of the transmission line and for resonating the coil at a frequency other than its self resonance frequency. When the probe coil is operated above the self resonance frequency, it is capacitively reactive. An inductor (40) is connected across coil feed points (30, 32) of the probe coil. The inductive reactance of the matching inductor is selected such that the capacitive reactance of the probe coil at a selected frequency above the self resonance frequency is cancelled.

Magnetic resonance probe for operation at frequencies above self

A portion of a subject (22) which is undergoing respiratory or other motion is disposed in an image region (20) to be examined. A respiratory or other motion monitor (50) monitors the cyclic respiratory motion and provides output signals indicative of chest expansion. A phase encoding gradient selector (60) selects the phase encoding gradient that is to be applied by a gradient magnetic field controller (40) and coil (42). A central phase encoding gradient is selected corresponding to a chest relaxation extreme and minimum and maximum phase encoding gradients are selected corresponding to a chest expansion extreme (FIG. 2). Intermediate degrees of monitored physical movement cause the selection of corresponding intermediate phase encoding gradients. Resonance signals collected during each phase encoding gradient are Fourier or otherwise transformed (80) into a corresponding view. A filter (92) weights each view such that views closest to the central phase encoding gradient are weighted most heavily and views adjacent the minimum and maximum phase encoding gradients are weighted least heavily. The physical position of pixels within each view are scaled (94) to adjust each view in accordance with the degree of physical expansion. The weighted and scaled views are transformed into an image memory (120) for display on a video display (122) or the like.

Centrally ordered phase encoding

A shimming magnetic field control (22) causes shimming magnetic fields for improving uniformity of a main magnetic field generated by main magnets (10). A resonance excitation control (32) selectively applies a resonance excitation pulse (34) and inversion pulse (36) for inverting the spin magnetization of water and lipid dipoles. A phase sensitive detector (30) selectively receives resonance signal components which are transformed by a transform algorithm (70) into a real image (72) and an imaginary image (74). The inversion pulse (36) is shifted by a time such that the water and lipid spin magnetizations are out of phase by a predetermined amount. With a 90.degree. phase difference, the real image represents water and the imaginary represents lipid. A phase image (80) is derived from a reference image pair (76, 78). A phase unwrap circuit (82) removes ambiguities attributable to the spin magnetizations becoming dephased by multiples of 2.pi. to create a phase map (84). A shim adjustment circuit (94) measures uniformity of the phase map and causes the shim field control circuit (22) to adjust the shimming magnetic fields to optimize the measured uniformity. The phase map is inversely transformed (100) to generate a field map (102) indicative of geometric distortion. A geometric distortion correction circuit (106) selectively interpolates values in the real and imaginary images in accordance with the field map to correct the image for geometric distortion.

Magnetic resonance imaging with phase encoded chemical shift correction

A nuclear magnetic resonance radio frequency coil. The disclosed coil provides high frequency resonance signals for perturbing a magnetic field within the coil. The coil is impedance matched and tuned with adjustable capacitors. A balanced configuration is achieved with a co-axial cable chosen to phase shift an energization signal coupled to the coil. The preferred coil is a thin metallic foil having a shorting conductor, four wing conductors, and uniquely shaped parallel cross conductors connecting the shorting and wing conductors. When mounted to a rf transmissive plastic substrate and energized the coil produces a homogeneous field within a region of interest the size of a patient head. A semicircular balanced feedbar arrangement is used to minimize undesired field contributions.

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Solon, OH, United States of America

John L Patrick, Iii