MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING APPARATUS AND MAGNETIC RESONANCE METHOD

• US 20120256627A1
• Filed: 04/03/2012
• Published: 10/11/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/06/2011
• 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: FURUDATE, Naoyuki
• Granted Patent: US 9,110,144 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 324/309
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/055 involving electronic [EMR] or nuclear [NMR] magnetic resonance, e.g. magnetic resonance imaging
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 33/543 Control of the operation of the MR system, e.g. setting of acquisition parameters prior to or during MR data acquisition, dynamic shimming, use of one or more scout images for scan plane prescription G01R33/546 takes precedence
• 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 33/5602 by filtering or weighting based on different relaxation times within the sample, e.g. T1 weighting using an inversion pulse
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 33/5608 Data processing and visualization specially adapted for MR, e.g. for feature analysis and pattern recognition on the basis of measured MR data, segmentation of measured MR data, edge contour detection on the basis of measured MR data, for enhancing measured MR data in terms of signal-to-noise ratio by means of noise filtering or apodization, for enhancing measured MR data in terms of resolution by means for deblurring, windowing, zero filling, or generation of gray-scaled images, colour-coded images or images displaying vectors instead of pixels image data processing or generation, in general G06T
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 33/56333 Involving spatial modulation of the magnetization within an imaged region, e.g. spatial modulation of magnetization [SPAMM] tagging perfusion imaging based on arterial spin tagging G01R33/56366

Abstract

According to one embodiment, a magnetic resonance imaging apparatus includes an imaging condition setting unit, a verification image generating unit and an imaging unit. The imaging condition setting unit is configured to set an imaging condition for applying radio frequency pre-pulses to adjust a contrast. The radio frequency pre-pulses includes a region selective radio frequency pulse. The verification image generating unit is configured to generate and display an image for verifying the contrast based on application conditions including an application region and an application number of the radio frequency pre-pulses. The imaging unit is configured to perform magnetic resonance imaging according to the imaging condition.

Claims

1. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus comprising:

an imaging condition setting unit configured to set an imaging condition for applying radio frequency pre-pulses to adjust a contrast, the radio frequency pre-pulses including a region selective radio frequency pulse;

a verification image generating unit configured to generate and display an image for verifying the contrast based on application conditions including an application region and an application number of the radio frequency pre-pulses; and

an imaging unit configured to perform magnetic resonance imaging according to the imaging condition.

2. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus of claim 1,

wherein said verification image generating unit is configured to generate an image representing an influence of a longitudinal relaxation according to respective application timings of the radio frequency pre-pulses based on the respective application timings.

3. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus of claim 1,

wherein said verification image generating unit is configured to generate an image showing a flow of a fluid with an estimated contrast as the image for verifying the contrast.

4. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus of claim 3,

Wherein said verification image generating unit is configured to determine a direction of blood flow in a blood vessel passing through a border of an application region of a radio frequency pre-pulse to generate an image representing whether blood is depicted whitely or blackly based on the direction.

5. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus of claim 1,

wherein said imaging condition setting unit is configured to set a labeling pulse for labeling fluid flowing in an object as at least one of the radio frequency pre-pulses.

6. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus of claim 5,

wherein said imaging condition setting unit is configured to set a region selective inversion recovery pulse as the labeling pulse.

7. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus of claim 2,

wherein said verification image generating unit is configured to generate an image representing an influence of a longitudinal relaxation according to a value of a longitudinal relaxation time showing a different value for each matter as the image for verifying the contrast.

8. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus of claim 7, further comprising:

a matter designating unit configured to designate at least one of a matter, a T1 value and a part corresponding to an application region of a region selective radio frequency pre-pulse,

wherein said verification image generating unit is configured to generate the image representing the influence of the longitudinal relaxation based on at least one of a T1 value of the designated matter, the designated T1 value and a T1 value of a matter corresponding to the designated part.

9. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus of claim 7,

wherein said verification image generating unit is configured to generate the image representing the influence of the longitudinal relaxation with setting a T1 value of blood to a T1 value of an application region of a region selective radio frequency pre-pulse set by operation of an input device.

10. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus of claim 7,

wherein said verification image generating unit is configured to generate the image representing the influence of the longitudinal relaxation with setting a T1 value of a background tissue to a T1 value of a region other than an application region of a region selective radio frequency pre-pulse set by operation of an input device.

11. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus of claim 7,

wherein said verification image generating unit is configured to display a brightness based on a T1 value of a fluid so as to be compared with a brightness based on a T1 value corresponding to a region other than an application region of a region selective radio frequency pre-pulse set by operation of an input device.

12. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus of claim 1,

wherein said verification image generating unit is configured to an image showing information for verifying a contrast on a reference image of an object as the image for verifying the contrast.

13. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus of claim 12,

wherein said verification image generating unit is configured to generate an image representing an influence of a longitudinal relaxation based on a T1 value of a matter corresponding to a region extracted by outline extraction processing of the reference image.

14. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus of claim 2,

wherein said verification image generating unit is configured to generate the image the for verifying the contrast as an image by which at least one of an application region of an region selective radio frequency pre-pulse set outside of an imaging region and an application region of an region selective radio frequency pre-pulse set to a same region as the imaging region can be verified.

15. A magnetic resonance imaging method comprising:

setting an imaging condition for applying radio frequency pre-pulses to adjust a contrast, the radio frequency pre-pulses including a region selective radio frequency pulse;

generating and displaying an image for verifying the contrast based on application conditions including an application region and an application number of the radio frequency pre-pulses; and

performing magnetic resonance imaging according to the imaging condition.