MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING APPARATUS AND MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING METHOD

• US 20110140697A1
• Filed: 12/07/2010
• Published: 06/16/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/14/2009
• 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: Shinoda, Kensuke, Yamagata, Hitoshi
• Granted Patent: US 8,781,185 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 324/309
• 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 33/56509 due to motion, displacement or flow, e.g. gradient moment nulling G01R33/567 takes precedence
• 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

According to one embodiment, an MRI apparatus includes an imaging unit and an application region calculating unit. The application region calculating unit automatically calculates an application region of a prepulse according to a region of interest of magnetic resonance imaging based on image data including the region of interest that are acquired before the application of the prepulse. The imaging unit performs magnetic resonance imaging of an object involving the application of the prepulse.

Claims

1. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus, comprising:

an imaging unit that performs magnetic resonance imaging of an object involving application of a prepulse; and

an application region calculating unit that automatically calculates an application region of the prepulse according to a region of interest of the magnetic resonance imaging based on “

image data including the region of interest”

that are acquired before the application of the prepulse.

2. The magnetic resonance imaging apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a display unit that displays the application region of the prepulse automatically calculated by the application region calculating unit.

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

wherein the application region calculating unit is configured to determine the automatically calculated application region of the prepulse as an application region of the prepulse.

4. The magnetic resonance imaging apparatus according to claim 3,

wherein the application region calculating unit is configured to extract a first tissue region and a second tissue region based on the image data including the region of interest and automatically calculate the application region of the prepulse according to the first and second tissue regions and the region of interest.

5. The magnetic resonance imaging apparatus according to claim 4,

wherein, in a case where a presaturation pulse for saturating a nuclear spin is applied as the prepulse, the application region calculating unit is configured to extract a spine region as the first tissue region and a body surface on a ventral side as the second tissue region based on the image data including the spine region as the region of interest.

6. The magnetic resonance imaging apparatus according to claim 3,

wherein, in a case where a presaturation pulse for saturating a nuclear spin is applied as the prepulse, the application region calculating unit is configured to extract a spine region based on the image data including the spine region as the region of interest, calculate a first straight line that is a linear approximation of the spine region, calculate a second straight line that is translated from the first straight line by a predetermined distance toward a ventral side as far as the second straight line does not reach a body surface on the ventral side, and calculate at least a part of a region on the ventral side of the second straight line as the application region of the prepulse.

7. The magnetic resonance imaging apparatus according to claim 6,

wherein, in the case where the presaturation pulse is applied as the prepulse, the application region calculating unit is configured to also extract a body surface boundary on the ventral side based on the image data including the spine region as the region of interest, calculate a third straight line that is parallel to the first straight line and is tangent to the body surface boundary on the ventral side from outside an abdomen, calculate a fourth straight line that is translated from the third straight line outwardly from the abdomen by a predetermined distance, and calculate a region between the second straight line and the fourth straight line as the application region of the prepulse.

8. The magnetic resonance imaging apparatus according to claim 3,

wherein the application region calculating unit is configured to calculate the application region of the prepulse according to the region of interest based on a plurality of image data including the region of interest that are acquired at different respiratory phases by the magnetic resonance imaging before the application of the prepulse.

9. The magnetic resonance imaging apparatus according to claim 8,

wherein the application region calculating unit is configured to extract a tissue region based on the plurality of image data and calculate the application region of the prepulse according to the tissue region and the region of interest.

10. The magnetic resonance imaging apparatus according to claim 9,

wherein the application region calculating unit is configured to extract a body surface of a ventral side as the tissue region.

11. The magnetic resonance imaging apparatus according to claim 3,

wherein the application region calculating unit is configured to calculate the application region of the prepulse according to the region of interest based on the image data including the region of interest acquired at a desired respiratory phase in respiratory synchronization by the magnetic resonance imaging before the application of the prepulse.

12. The magnetic resonance imaging apparatus according to claim 11,

wherein the application region calculating unit is configured to extract a tissue region based on the image data including the region of interest and calculate the application region of the prepulse according to the tissue region and the region of interest.

13. The magnetic resonance imaging apparatus according to claim 12,

wherein the application region calculating unit is configured to extract a body surface of a ventral side as the tissue region.

14. The magnetic resonance imaging apparatus according to claim 3,

wherein the imaging unit is configured to apply at least one of an inversion recovery pulse and a spatially-selective presaturation pulse for saturating a nuclear spin, as the prepulse.

15. The magnetic resonance imaging apparatus according to claim 3,

wherein the imaging unit is configured to apply an inversion recovery pulse and a spatially-selective presaturation pulse for saturating a nuclear spin as the prepulse, and

the application region calculating unit is configured to calculate a region adjacent to the region of interest as an application region of the presaturation pulse and calculate “

a region including the application region of the presaturation pulse and the region of interest”

as an application region of the inversion recovery pulse.

16. A magnetic resonance imaging method comprising the steps of:

automatically calculating an application region of a prepulse according to a region of interest of an object based on image data including the region of interest that are generated by magnetic resonance imaging; and

generating image data by performing the magnetic resonance imaging of the object involving application of the prepulse.