General Electric Company

Synaptive Medical Inc.

Leland Stanford Junior University

Synaptive Medical (barbados) Inc.

Sunnybrook Research Institute

Philip James Beatty

Chad Tyler Harris

Jeff Alan Stainsby

Anja C S Brau

Alexander Gyles Panther

James Hartman Holmes

David Mark Deschenes

Roland Bammer

Geron Andre Bindseil

Andrew Thomas Curtis

Reed Frederick Busse

Stefan Skare

Frank R Korosec

Kang Wang

Anja Christina Sophie Brau

Curtis Nathan Wiens

Cameron Anthony Piron

Dwight G Nishimura

Jean Helen Brittain

Xiaoli Zhao

Ajeetkumar Gaddipati

William Bradfield Handler

Ian Robert Oliphant Connell

Ajit Shankaranarayanan

Weitian Chen

Peng Lai

Suchandrima Banerjee

Blaine Alexander Chronik

Zhiqiang Li

Eric Tzguang Han

Howard Andrew Rowley

Curtis Nathan Weins

A fat saturation method for a magnetic resonance imaging system having a main magnet providing a magnetic field BThe method includes: driving a shim coil assembly with a first set of shimming currents to sufficiently alter a Bfield inhomogeneity of the magnetic field Bwithin a region that includes a first imaging volume of interest such that water saturation inside the region is reduced from before the first set of shimming currents are applied; applying a fat saturation pulse to the region; identifying the first imaging volume of interest from the region; driving the shim coil assembly with a second set of shimming currents to alter the Bfield inhomogeneity of the magnetic field Bwithin the first imaging volume of interest such that the Bfield inhomogeneity within the first imaging volume of interest is reduced; and obtaining magnetic resonance signals from the first imaging volume of interest.

Dynamic Bshimming for improved fat saturation in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)

Systems and methods for magnetic field-dependent relaxometry using magnetic resonance imaging ('MRI') are provided. Relaxation parameters, including longitudinal relaxation time ('T1') and transverse relaxation time (&#x201c;T2&#x201d;), are estimated from magnetic resonance signal data acquired at multiple different magnetic field strengths using the same MRI system. By measuring these relaxation parameters as a function of magnetic field strength, T1 dispersion data, T2 dispersion data, or both, are generated. Based on this dispersion data, quantitative physiological parameters can be estimated. As one example, iron content can be estimated from T2 dispersion data.

Systems and methods for magnetic field-dependent relaxometry using magnetic resonance imaging

An automatic protocolling system and methods involving a processor operable by way of a set of executable instructions storable in relation to a nontransient memory device, the set of executable instructions configuring the processor to: receive information relating to an initial protocol comprising an initial ordering of a plurality of sequences, the information comprising data relating to an interaction extent value of at least one of an imaging system and a patient as a function of time corresponding to each sequence in the plurality of sequences, the data relating to a time-integrated effect of each sequence in the plurality of sequences; and dynamically determine an alternative protocol comprising an alternative ordering of the plurality of sequences based on the time-integrated effect, whereby an alternative protocol is provided.

Automatic protocolling to reduce system and patient interactions

Described here are systems and methods for mitigating or otherwise removing the effects of short-term magnetic field instabilities caused by oscillations of the cold head in a cryogen-free magnet system used for magnetic resonance systems, such as magnetic resonance imaging ('MRI') systems, nuclear magnetic resonance ('NMR') systems, or the like.

Reducing magnetic field instabilities caused by oscillations of a mechanical cryo-cooler in magnetic resonance systems

An asymmetric electromagnet system, method, and method of producing an asymmetric electromagnet system, wherein the asymmetric electromagnet system is for generating an imaging magnetic field in an imaging region with an imaging isocentre, the imaging region being asymmetrically positioned within a gradient coil bore inside a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system during imaging, the electromagnet assembly comprising: an asymmetric gradient coil configured to generate a gradient field in the asymmetrically positioned imaging region, at least one gradient axis having the gradient field with a constant offset component such that the position at which the gradient field passes through zero is offset with respect to the imaging isocentre of the asymmetrically positioned imaging region.

System and method to improve performance of asymmetrical gradient coils by allowing a uniform offset field

A method for operating a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system that includes: accessing data indicating a first region for imaging a portion of a subject, the portion being placed in a main magnet of the MRI system and the main magnet generating a magnetic field; selecting, from a group of available shimming coils, a first subset of shimming coils arranged and configured such that, when the shimming coils in the first subset are driven, a homogeneity of the magnetic field at the first region is increased; and driving the shimming coils in the selected first subset of shimming coils without driving other shimming coils in the group of available shimming coils such that the homogeneity of the magnetic field at the first region increases relative to the homogeneity of the magnetic field at the first region when the shimming coils of the selected first subset are not driven.

Shimming coils for magnetic resonance imaging

Systems and methods for adaptive, multi-resolution magnetic resonance imaging ('MRI'), in which an MRI scan prescription is adaptively changed to acquire high-quality data from select regions-of-interest ('ROI') in a larger field-of-view (&#x201c;FOV&#x201d;), are provided. The higher quality data can include data representing higher spatial resolution, higher signal-to-noise ratio (&#x201c;SNR&#x201d;), increased diffusion encoding via repeated acquisition with a larger number of diffusion-encoding directions, and so on. A composite image can be generated that displays the higher quality images of the ROIs overlaid on the larger FOV.

Systems and methods for adaptive multi-resolution magnetic resonance imaging

Systems and methods for magnetic field-dependent relaxometry using magnetic resonance imaging ('MRI'] are provided. Relaxation parameters, including longitudinal relaxation time ('T1') and transverse relaxation time (&#x201c;T2&#x201d;), are estimated from magnetic resonance signal data acquired at multiple different magnetic field strengths using the same MRI system. By measuring these relaxation parameters as a function of magnetic field strength, T1 dispersion data, T2 dispersion data, or both, are generated. Based on this dispersion data, quantitative physiological parameters can be estimated. As one example, iron content can be estimated from T2 dispersion data.

The present disclosure provides a method and system for correcting errors caused by non-linearities in a gradient field profile of a gradient coil in a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system. The method includes obtaining a non-linearity tensor at each voxel within the imaging space using a computer model of the gradient coil; correcting motion sensitive encoding using the non-linearity tensor; and generating a corrected image using the corrected motion sensitive encoding.

Method of correcting gradient nonuniformity in gradient motion sensitive imaging applications

A method of correcting warping of an acquired image in an MRI system, caused by non-linearities in gradient field profiles of gradient coils is set forth, comprising a) constructing a computer model representing conducting pathways for each gradient coil in said MRI system; b) calculating a predicted magnetic field at each point in space for each said gradient coil in said model; c) measuring actual magnetic field at each point in space for each said gradient coil in said MRI system; d) verifying accuracy of said model by comparing said predicted magnetic field to said actual magnetic field at each said point in space and in the event said model is not accurate then repeating a)-d), and in the event said model is accurate then; constructing a distortion map for mapping coordinates in real space to coordinates in warped space of said acquired image based on deviations of said predicted magnetic field from linearity; and unwarping said warping of the acquired image using said distortion map.

System and method for image warp correction for magnetic resonance imaging

A system and method for combining k-space data acquired on multiple different receiver channels in a multichannel receiver is provided. One or more convolution kernels are used to combine the k-space data. Each convolution kernel is designed as the combination of one or more channel combination kernels and an alias-suppressing kernel. The channel combination kernels are designed to have a smaller sample spacing than the acquired data, and the alias-suppressing kernel is designed to suppress aliasing artifacts in stopbands defined by the sample spacing of the channel combination kernels.

Efficient method for performing K-space channel combination for non-cartesian MRI acquisitions

In an embodiment, a method includes processing magnetic resonance (MR) data according to a process including applying a density filter to blades of k-space data rotated about a section of k-space. Each blade may include a first set of encode lines weighted in a first signal weighting and a second set of encode lines weighted in a second signal weighting. The density filter may be configured to preferentially weight each blade in the first signal weighting to produce blades of weighted k-space data.

Intra-blade filter for motion corrected magnetic resonance data

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Toronto, Canada

Philip James Beatty