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:
Apr. 19, 1994
Filed:
Feb. 01, 1993
Christopher W Crowley, San Diego, CA (US);
Freeman H Rose, Del Mar, CA (US);
Panacea Medical Laboratories, Carlsbad, CA (US);
Abstract
A remotely positionable device for use in magnetic resonance imaging includes a magnet which is juxtaposable against the object to be imaged without actually surrounding to object. When so positioned, the magnet generates a static nonhomogeneous magnetic field having a determinable measurement surface wherein both the magnitude and the gradient of the field are substantially constant. Additionally, the device includes an RF antenna for periodically pulsing nuclei in the measurement surface with pulses of the Larmor frequency to initially tilt the nuclei and to subsequently refocus the nuclei. The device also includes a pair of gradient coils which generate a gradient fields that are superposed on the static field to encode the nuclei. The RF antenna subsequently receives a plurality of encoded spin echo signals from the refocussed nuclei which are averaged by a computer to create a measured response. Specifically, the nuclei are refocussed and the encoded spin echo signals are received at a rate that is proportional to the gradient of the static flux field. The computer is also used to create an image from a plurality of measured responses taken from differently encoded spin echo signals.