The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 17, 1987
Filed:
Feb. 19, 1985
Michael H Buonocore, Redwood City, CA (US);
Resonex, Sunnyvale, CA (US);
Abstract
There is disclosed an improved NMR imaging method utilized for forming images of a subject by determining the relative densities of nuclei within the subject. A main magnetic field is applied to the subject to create aligned nuclear spins in the nuclei. Radio frequency energy is applied to the subject at a predetermined Larmor frequency to create a radio frequency field acting in a direction substantially perpendicular to the main magnetic field. A gradient magnetic field is applied to the subject along a selected axis at a time substantially coincident to the time of application of the radio frequency energy so that the nuclei in only a thin slice of the subject are excited. The application of radio frequency energy is terminated after a predetermined time. Thereafter, two time varying balanced gradient magnetic fields are applied to the subject along two perpendicular axes, which are both perpendicular to the first magnetic gradient field. The resulting precession of the nuclear spins is detected during substantially the entire time of the free induction decay period of the spins. An image is then formed from the detected information. These steps are repeated so that many slices of the subject are imaged substantially simultaneously.