Magnetic resonance imaging apparatus and magnetic resonance imaging method

• US 20080071166A1
• Filed: 09/06/2007
• Published: 03/20/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/06/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation (Canon Inc.), Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Miyazaki, Mitsue
• Granted Patent: US 9,194,928 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/419
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0263 using NMR
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/055 involving electronic [EMR] or nuclear [NMR] magnetic resonance, e.g. magnetic resonance imaging
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 33/3415 comprising arrays of sub-coils , i.e. phased-array coils with flexible receiver channels
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 33/546 Interface between the MR system and the user, e.g. for controlling the operation of the MR system or for the design of pulse sequences
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 33/5601 involving use of a contrast agent for contrast manipulation, e.g. a paramagnetic, super-paramagnetic, ferromagnetic or hyperpolarised contrast agent
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 33/5605 by transferring coherence or polarization from a spin species to another, e.g. creating magnetization transfer contrast [MTC], polarization transfer using nuclear Overhauser enhancement [NOE]
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 33/5607 by reducing the NMR signal of a particular spin species, e.g. of a chemical species for fat suppression, or of a moving spin species for black-blood imaging
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 33/56341 Diffusion imaging
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 33/5635 Angiography, e.g. contrast-enhanced angiography [CE-MRA] or time-of-flight angiography [TOF-MRA]
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 33/56383 involving motion of the sample as a whole, e.g. multistation MR or MR with continuous table motion
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 33/5673 Gating or triggering based on a physiological signal other than an MR signal, e.g. ECG gating or motion monitoring using optical systems for monitoring the motion of a fiducial marker

Abstract

A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus includes an imaging condition setting unit, a data acquisition unit and an image data generating unit. The imaging condition setting unit sets respective imaging conditions corresponding to plural imaging regions. The respective imaging conditions include at least one non-contrast-enhanced imaging condition. The data acquisition unit acquires respective pieces of data corresponding to the plural imaging regions according to the respective imaging conditions. The image data generating unit generates image data based on the respective pieces of data corresponding to the plural imaging regions.

Claims

1. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus comprising:

an imaging condition setting unit configured to set respective imaging conditions corresponding to plural imaging regions, the respective imaging conditions including at least one non-contrast-enhanced imaging condition;

a data acquisition unit configured to acquire respective pieces of data corresponding to the plural imaging regions according to the respective imaging conditions; and

an image data generating unit configured to generate image data based on the respective pieces of data corresponding to the plural imaging regions.

2. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein said data acquisition unit is configured to acquire the respective pieces of data continuously from the plural imaging regions.

3. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus according to claim 1,

further comprising an image processing unit configured to perform image processing to the image data,

wherein said imaging condition setting unit is configured to be able to set a procedure from acquisition of the respective pieces of data to the image processing.

4. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein said imaging condition setting unit is configured to be able to set at least one of the plural imaging regions and an order for acquiring the respective pieces of data from the plural imaging regions by a corresponding arrayed coil.

5. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein said imaging condition setting unit is configured to be able to set an imaging condition for a non-contrast-enhanced MRA.

6. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein said imaging condition setting unit is configured to allow a non-contrast-enhanced MRA sequence for acquiring an MRA image by subtracting between pieces of data generated based on respective magnetic resonance signals acquired in a systole and a diastole of a cardiac cycle to be selected as one of the respective imaging conditions and an intensity of a spoiler pulse of the non-contrast-enhanced MRA sequence to be set.

7. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein said data acquisition unit is configured to move a table top for setting an object each time data acquisition from one imaging region is completed.

8. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a blood flow image generating unit configured to generate MRA image data in which an artery and a vein are separated by performing subtraction processing to respective pieces of image data corresponding to a systole and a diastole of a cardiac cycle; and

an imaging processing method setting unit configured to give instruction information to said blood flow image generating unit so as to perform the subtraction processing automatically later than data acquisition for generating the respective pieces of the image data corresponding to the systole and the diastole.

9. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a blood flow image generating unit configured to generate MRA image data by performing weighted subtraction processing to the image data; and

an imaging processing method setting unit configured to give instruction information to said blood flow image generating unit so as to perform the weighted subtraction processing automatically.

10. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a blood flow image generating unit configured to perform projection processing to three-dimensional image data generated by said image data generating unit; and

an imaging processing method setting unit configured to give instruction information to said blood flow image generating unit so as to perform the projection processing automatically later than data acquisition for generating the three-dimensional image data.

11. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a post-processing unit configured to perform post-processing to the image data; and

an imaging processing method setting unit configured to give instruction information to said post-processing unit so as to perform the post-processing automatically.

12. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein said data acquisition unit is configured to acquire the respective pieces of the data with a phased array coil which arranges coil elements for acquiring the respective pieces of the data from the plural imaging regions.

13. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein said data acquisition unit is configured to acquire the respective pieces of the data from the plural imaging regions with a whole body coil.

14. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus according to claim 1,

wherein said imaging condition setting unit is configured to be able to set the number of coil elements as an imaging condition for parallel imaging by which the respective pieces of the data are acquired with skipping at least one phase encode by using the coil elements.

15. A magnetic resonance imaging method comprising steps of:

setting respective imaging conditions corresponding to plural imaging regions, the respective imaging conditions including at least one non-contrast-enhanced imaging condition;

acquiring respective pieces of data corresponding to the plural imaging regions according to the respective imaging conditions; and

generating image data based on the respective pieces of data corresponding to the plural imaging regions.