Koninklijke Philips Corporation N.V.

Philips Intellectual Property & Standards Gmbh

Thomas Hendrik Rozijn

Paul Royston Harvey

Miha Fuderer

Ulrich Wolfgang Katscher

Kay Nehrke

Michel Paul Jurriaan Jurrissen

Peter Boernert

Christian Findeklee

Eberhard Sebastian Hansis

Hanno Heyke Homann

Johan Michiel Den Harder

Tobias Ratko Voigt

Willem Marten Prins

Adrianus Joseph Willibrordus Duijndam

Johannes Martinus Peeters

Franciscus Johannes Maria Benschop

Wilhelmus R M Mens

Franciscus J M Benschop

Arthur Felipe Nisti Grigoletto Borgonovi

Arthur Filipe Nisti Grigoletto Borgonovi

Gerrit H Ijperen

Ulrich Katscher

Michel P J Jurrissen

Adrianus J W Duijndam

A method of magnetic resonance (MR) imaging of an object includes: generating MR signals by subjecting the object to a number N of shots of a multi-echo imaging sequence comprising multi-slice RF pulses for simultaneously exciting two or more spatially separate image slices, with a phase offset in the slice direction being imparted to the MR signals; acquiring the MR signals that are received in parallel via a set of at least two RF coils having different spatial sensitivity profiles; and reconstructing a MR image for each image slice from the acquired MR signals using a parallel reconstruction algorithm, wherein the MR signal contributions from the different image slices are separated on the basis of the spatial encodings of the MR signals according to the spatial sensitivity profiles of the RF coils and of the phase offsets attributed to the respective image slices and shots.

Parallel multi-slice MR imaging

The invention relates to a method of parallel MR imaging, wherein a reference scan is performed by means of a stimulated echo sequence including i) at least two preparation RF pulses (&#x3b1;) radiated toward a portion of a body () during a preparation period (), and ii) one or more reading RF pulses (&#x3b2;) radiated toward the portion of the body () during an acquisition period () temporally subsequent to the preparation period (). One or more FID signals (I) and one or more stimulated echo signals (I) are acquired during the acquisition period (). The spatial receive and/or&#x2014;if applicable&#x2014;transmitsensitivity profiles of at least two RF coils () are derived from the acquired FID signals (I) and/or from the acquired stimulated echo signals (I). The parameters of the stimulated echo sequence are selected such that it is robust against susceptibility-induced artifacts. Moreover,the invention relates to a MR device () and to a computer program for a MR device ().

Metal resistant MR imaging reference scan

A magnetic resonance method of electric properties tomography imaging of an object includes applying an excitation RF field to the object via a coil at a first spatial coil position (), acquiring resulting magnetic resonance signals via a receiving channel from the object, determining from the acquired magnetic resonance signals a first phase distribution and a first amplitude of a given magnetic field component of the excitation RF field of the coil at the first coil position (), repeating these steps with a coil at a second different spatial coil position (), to obtain a second phase distribution, determining a phase difference between the first and second phase distribution, determining a first and a second complex permittivity of the object, the first complex permittivity comprising the first amplitude of the given magnetic field component and the second complex permittivity comprising the second amplitude of the given magnetic field component and the phase difference, equating the first complex permittivity and the second complex permittivity for receiving a final equation and determining from the final equation a phase of the given magnetic field component for the first coil position ().

Electric properties tomography imaging method and system

A magnetic resonance system includes a magnetic resonance scanner having a multi-channel transmit coil or coil system and a magnetic resonance receive element; and a digital processor configured to perform an imaging process. The image process includes shimming the multi-channel transmit coil or coil system, acquiring a coil sensitivity map for the magnetic resonance receive element using the multi-channel transmit coil or coil system, acquiring a magnetic resonance image using the magnetic resonance receive element and the shimmed multi-channel transmit coil or coil system, and performing an intensity level correction on the acquired magnetic resonance image using the coil sensitivity map to generate a corrected magnetic resonance image.

Image intensity correction for magnetic resonance imaging

The invention relates to a magnetic resonance imaging apparatus including an array of two or more RF antennas for transmitting RF pulses to and receiving MR signals from a subject positioned in an examination volume, and where the RF antennas have spatial transmit and receive sensitivity profiles. The apparatus is configured to control the temporal succession, the phase, and the amplitude of the RF feeding of each individual RF antenna. The apparatus is also configured to determine the phases and amplitudes from the spatial transmit sensitivity profiles of the RF antennas, and reconstruct a MR image from a combination of the received MR signals received via the individual RF antennas and from the spatial receive sensitivity profiles of the RF antennas. Further, the apparatus is configured to determine the spatial transmit sensitivity profiles of the RF antennas from the spatial receive sensitivity profiles of the RF antennas, or vice versa.

MR imaging using multi-channel RF excitation

The invention relates to a method of MR imaging of at least a portion of a body () of a patient placed in an examination volume of an MR device (). The object of the invention is to provide an improved, i.e. faster, parallel imaging technique. The invention proposes to acquire a survey signal data set () at a low image resolution, which survey signal data set () includes MR signals received in parallel or successively via a volume RF coil () and via a set of array RF coils (). Spatial sensitivity profiles () of the array RF coils () are determined from the low resolution data. As a next step, a reference scan is performed in which a reference signal data set () is acquired at intermediate resolution solely via the array RF coils (). The spatial sensitivity profiles () of the array RF coils () are determined from the data acquired at intermediate resolution and from the spatial sensitivity profiles () determined before at low resolution. Finally, a diagnostic scan is performed, in which a diagnostic signal data set () is acquired in parallel via the array RF coils () at high resolution. The diagnostic signal data set () may be acquired in a sub-sampled fashion. A diagnostic MR image () is then reconstructed from the diagnostic signal data set () and from the spatial sensitivity profiles () determined at the intermediate resolution, for example by using the SENSE or SMASH algorithm.

MR imaging using parallel signal acquisition

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Eindhoven, Netherlands

Thomas Hendrik Rozijn