SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR TISSUE POINT TRACKING USING MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING
First Claim
1. A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) apparatus comprising:
- a plurality of gradient coils positioned about a bore of a magnet;
an RF coil assembly coupled to a pulse generator to emit RF pulse sequences and arranged to receive resulting MR signals from a subject of interest; and
a system control coupled to the plurality of gradient coils and the RF coil assembly, the system control programmed to;
cause the RF coil assembly to emit a first RF pulse comprising a first pair of two-dimensional (2D) spatially selective beams, each of the beams being directed to a respective tagging location in the subject of interest and wherein the tagging locations are equidistant from a pre-determined point-of-interest;
acquire a first series of MR images from the subject of interest;
identify the first pair of 2D spatially selective beams in each MR image in the first series of MR images; and
track a position of the point-of-interest based on the identified 2D spatially selective beams in the first series of MR images.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method for MR based tracking of a tissue point includes a RF coil assembly configured to emit RF pulse sequences and a system control coupled to the RF coil assembly. The system control is programmed to cause the RF coil assembly to emit a first RF pulse comprising a first pair of two-dimensional (2D) spatially selective beams, each of the beams being directed to a respective tagging location in the subject of interest and wherein the tagging locations are equidistant from a pre-determined point-of-interest. The system control is further programmed to acquire a first series of MR images from a subject of interest, identify the first pair of 2D spatially selective beams in each MR image in the first series of MR images, and track a position of the point-of-interest based on the identified 2D spatially selective beams in the first series of MR images.
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Citations
23 Claims
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1. A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) apparatus comprising:
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a plurality of gradient coils positioned about a bore of a magnet; an RF coil assembly coupled to a pulse generator to emit RF pulse sequences and arranged to receive resulting MR signals from a subject of interest; and a system control coupled to the plurality of gradient coils and the RF coil assembly, the system control programmed to; cause the RF coil assembly to emit a first RF pulse comprising a first pair of two-dimensional (2D) spatially selective beams, each of the beams being directed to a respective tagging location in the subject of interest and wherein the tagging locations are equidistant from a pre-determined point-of-interest; acquire a first series of MR images from the subject of interest; identify the first pair of 2D spatially selective beams in each MR image in the first series of MR images; and track a position of the point-of-interest based on the identified 2D spatially selective beams in the first series of MR images. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A method for tracking a target point using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) comprising:
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identifying a target point in a subject of interest; emitting a first tagging RF pulse to a first set of tagging locations positioned equidistant from and on opposite sides of the target point; acquiring a first set of MR images from the subject of interest tracking a position of the first set of tagging locations over the first set of MR images; and determining a location for the target point in each of the acquired MR images based on the tracked positions of the first set of tagging locations; wherein the first tagging RF pulse comprises a first two-dimensional (2D) pencil beam and a second two-dimensional (2D) pencil beam, each of the first and second 2D pencil beams directed to a respective tagging location in the first set of tagging locations. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A computer readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon and representing a sequence of instructions that when executed by a computer causes the computer to:
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cause transmission of a pair of pencil beam RF pulses positioned about a point-of-interest located at a mid-point between the pair of pencil beam RF pulses; acquire a plurality of magnetic resonance (MR) images during the transmission of the pair of pencil beam RF pulses; track a location of saturation points generated by the pair of pencil beam RF pulses over the plurality of MR images; and determine a shift in location of the point-of-interest in each of the plurality of MR images based on the location of the saturation points. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23)
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Specification