Koninklijke Philips Corporation N.v.

U.S. Philips Corporation

Universitaet Zu Luebeck

Universitaet Zu Luebeck Institut Fuer Medizintechnik

Thorsten Manuel Buzug

Timo Frederik Sattel

Sven Biederer

Tobias Knopp

Rafael Wiemker

Martin Stahl

Jurgen Weese

Michael Harald Kuhn

Thomas Blaffert

Til Aach

Thomas Pralow

Ingo Maack

Maik Stille

Graeme P Penney

Mandy Gruettner

David J Hawkes

Christian Kaethner

Gael Bringout

Sabine Dippel

Matthias Weber

Ansgar Springub

The invention relates to a method and an MPIS scanner for tomographic imaging of an object with magnetic particles distributed in the interior of the object, comprising the steps of generating a selection magnetic field with a predetermined magnetic field gradient in at least one field-free point (FFP) in a predetermined scanning plane, generating a time-dependent, periodic excitation magnetic field with a predetermined maximum frequency, repeatedly displacing the at least one FFP along a predetermined closed trajectory with a predetermined repetition time in the scanning plane, moving the object through the scanning plane along a predetermined advance direction with a predetermined advance speed, detecting the change in the magnetization state of the magnetic particles at the points in the object interior through which the at least one FFP passes, reconstructing the local particle concentrations at the points through which the at least one FFP passes in respect of an object coordinate system, interpolating the reconstructed particle concentration to the points in the object interior not passed through by at least one FFP, generating a display of the particle concentration distribution in the object interior, characterized by interpolating the particle concentrations reconstructed at path section end points of path sections along the advance direction to path section intermediate points taking into account the advance speed.

Method for magnetic particle imaging having unlimited axial field of view

The invention relates to a method and an apparatus for reducing artefacts that are caused particularly by disturbance bodies and/or metal bodies in computed tomography (CT) images by means of a regulated iteration process that can be integrated particularly into a process for processing measurement data and preferably into a superordinate process for data alignment.

Method and apparatus for reducing artefacts in computed tomography images

The present invention relates to an MPI (Magnetic Particle Imaging) apparatus and a method for influencing and/or detecting magnetic particles in a field of view. Rather than moving the FFP (field free point) along a single, time-consuming high density trajectory it is proposed to use a number of low density trajectories with travelling phase, wherein each of said low density trajectories has the form of a closed curve differently located within the field of view.

Apparatus and method for influencing and/or detecting magnetic particles

The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for generating and changing a magnetic field in a field of view (), said magnetic field having a, in particular ball-shaped or line-shaped, first sub-zone () having a low magnetic field strength and a second sub-zone () having a higher magnetic field strength. The proposed apparatus comprises at least three pairs of first coils (-), wherein the coils are arranged along a ring around the field of view and wherein the two coils of each pair are opposingly arranged on opposite sides of the field of view, at least one pair of second coils () opposingly arranged on opposite sides of the field of view at the open sides of said ring, generator means () for generating current signals for provision to said first and second coils for generating the desired magnetic fields by said first and second coils, and control means () for controlling said generator means.

Apparatus and method for generating and moving a magnetic field having a field free line

The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for influencing and/or detecting magnetic particles in a field of view. To increase the field of view and, at the same time, allow access to the patient during imaging, the apparatus comprises two or more transmit coil sets () wherein neighboring coil sets are partially overlapping, a transmit coil set comprising: a pair () of concentrically arranged selection field coils () for generating a magnetic selection field () having a pattern in space of its magnetic field strength such that a first sub-zone () having a low magnetic field strength and a second sub-zone () having a higher magnetic field strength are formed in the field of view (), and at least one pair () of drive field coils () for changing the position in space of the two sub-zones () in the field of view () by means of a magnetic drive field so that the magnetization of the magnetic particles changes locally, said at least one pair () of drive field coils being arranged parallel to said pair () of selection field coils () and being formed by two neighboring coil loops.

Apparatus and method for influencing and/or detecting magnetic particles in a field of view having an array of single-sided transmit coil sets

The shutters ( ) in an X-ray device which include at least a radiation source ( ), a diaphragm device ( ) with shutters ( ) and a recording ( ) and image processing unit ( ), are provided with hole and/or edge patterns ( ) which reproduce non-anatomical patterns in the radiation image; the shutter edges ( ) are detected in the radiation image in the image processing unit on the basis of such patterns, so that only the directly irradiated part of the patient is displayed.

X-ray device incorporating detection of shutter edges

The present invention relates to a method for automatically detecting contours of, for example, shutters or implants in an X-ray image. A number of closed paths is derived from the X-ray image, one of said closed paths being selected, in dependence on the contrast along the closed paths, as the contour. The closed paths may be derived from a set of line candidates on which contour pixel candidates are situated. The contour pixel candidates can be derived from a high-pass or gradient version of the X-ray image.

Method for the detection of contours in an X-ray image

The invention relates to an image processing method in which an original image is first decomposed into a series of detail images, with each of which there is associated a respective spatial frequency range, low contrasts being enhanced before assembly of a final image from the images which are produced by the decomposition and are subsequently modified. The modification of the detail images is performed in dependence on the relevant image value as well as in dependence on the mean image value and/or the variation of the image values in a window around the relevant pixel.

Processing method for an original image

The invention relates to a method of determining the spatial transformation between an object which is three-dimensionally reproduced by a data set and the object itself. According to the method at least one X-ray image of the object is formed. A pseudo-projection image is calculated for a part of the volume represented by the data set, said pseudo-projection image being compared with the X-ray image. The parameters on which the calculation of the pseudo-projection image is based are varied until optimum registration is achieved.

Method of determining the transformation between an object and its

The invention relates to an automatic image analysis method in which two images which have been recorded at different instants are analyzed and a transformation function is determined on the basis of the shifts of image sections, which transformation function describes the shift from one image to another. In order to enable exact determination of this shift, corresponding image sections are determined in the two images by histogram analysis.

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Grob Sarau, Germany

Thorsten Manuel Buzug