METHOD FOR GENERATING A MEDICAL DATA SET OF A MOVING BODY PART

• US 20180353139A1
• Filed: 06/06/2018
• Published: 12/13/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/08/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Siemens Healthineers AG (Siemens AG)
• Original Assignee: Siemens Healthcare GMBH (Siemens AG)
• Inventors: Speier, Peter, Bacher, Mario, Schmidt, Michaela
• Granted Patent: US 11,026,636 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0044 for the heart
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/02444 Details of sensor A61B5/02427 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/055 involving electronic [EMR] or nuclear [NMR] magnetic resonance, e.g. magnetic resonance imaging
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/1107 Measuring contraction of parts of the body, e.g. organ, muscle apparatus for measuring work or force in general G01L
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/352 Detecting R peaks, e.g. for synchronising diagnostic apparatus; Estimating R-R interval
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7246 using correlation, e.g. template matching or determination of similarity
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/725 using specific filters therefor, e.g. Kalman or adaptive filters A61B5/316 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7285 for synchronising or triggering a physiological measurement or image acquisition with a physiological event or waveform, e.g. an ECG signal A61B6/5205, A61B6/541, A61B8/5207, A61B8/543 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7292 Prospective gating, i.e. predicting the occurrence of a physiological event for use as a synchronisation signal
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 33/56341 Diffusion imaging
• 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 33/5676 Gating or triggering based on an MR signal, e.g. involving one or more navigator echoes for motion monitoring and correction

Abstract

A method is provided for generating a medical data set of a moving part of the human or animal body undergoing a cyclical movement such as cardiac movement. A raw data signal acquired by a magnetic resonance receiver coil arrangement is received. A magnetic resonance signal and a movement signal are separated from the raw data signal. At least two physiological phases of the moving body part are automatically assigned to the movement signal. The automatic assignment does not introduce a delay between the movement signal and the magnetic resonance signal. Time points used for triggering an acquisition of the magnetic resonance signal and/or for data post-processing of the magnetic resonance signal are determined or set.

Claims

1. A method for generating a medical data set of a moving body part that is undergoing a movement cycle, the method comprising:

receiving a raw data signal acquired by a magnetic resonance receiver coil arrangement;

separating a magnetic resonance signal and a movement signal from the raw data signal, wherein the movement signal is derived from, describes, or is derived from and describes a mechanical activity of the moving body part within the movement cycle, wherein the movement signal is a cardiac component of a Pilot Tone signal;

automatically assigning at least two physiological phases of the moving body part to the movement signal, wherein the automatic assignment does not introduce a delay between the movement signal and the magnetic resonance signal; and

automatically determining, setting, or determining and setting one or more time points for triggering an acquisition of the magnetic resonance signal, for data post-processing of the magnetic resonance signal, or for triggering the acquisition of the magnetic resonance signal and for data post-processing of the magnetic resonance signal.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the automatic determination is based on template-based feature detection, model-based feature detection, or template-based feature detection and model-based feature detection within the movement signal.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein a first derivative, a second derivative, or the first derivative and second derivative of the movement signal are provided and used in the automatic determining, setting, or determining and setting of the one or more time points.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

defining, prior to the automatic determining, a physiological phase or a point of interest at which the one or more time points are to be set in the movement signal.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more time points are determined at any arbitrary physiological phase or point of interest in the movement signal.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one time point for triggering of the one or more time points is automatically set in an R-R interval preceding a cardiac cycle during which a corresponding magnetic resonance signal is acquired.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the acquisition of the magnetic resonance signal requires a long preparation period, and at least one time point for triggering a preparation pulse is automatically set during a diastolic phase preceding a systolic state.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the at least one time point for triggering a preparation pulse is moved along the cardiac cycle for different repetitions of the magnetic resonance sequence, or for the acquisition of different sub-sections of k-Space.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more time points for data post-processing are set at an end-systolic point, or an end-diastolic time point, or the end-systolic point and the end-diastolic time point.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more time points are set at time points of average strain in order to place strain sensitive measurements at the time points of average strain.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the strain sensitive measurements are diffusion measurements.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more time points are set at optimal time points for motion sensitive dark blood preparation.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the optimal time points for motion sensitive dark blood preparation are time points of maximum slope in the movement signal or of maximum second order derivative of the movement signal.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more time points for data post-processing are used for matching the time resolution of retro-gated cinematic or cine images such that underestimation of cardiac activity is avoided.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more time points for triggering or data post-processing of magnetic resonance signal acquired across multiple heart beats are set according to features of the movement signal.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions executable by a controller to generate an image data set of a moving part of a human undergoing a cardiac movement, the instructions comprising:

receiving a raw data signal acquired by a magnetic resonance receiver coil arrangement;

separating a magnetic resonance signal and a movement signal from the raw data signal, wherein the movement signal is derived from and describes the mechanical activity of the moving body part within a movement cycle, wherein the movement signal the cardiac component of a Pilot Tone signal;

automatically assigning at least two physiological phases of the moving body part to the movement signal, wherein the automatic assignment does not introduce a delay between the movement signal and the magnetic resonance signal;

automatically determining and setting time points used for triggering an acquisition of the magnetic resonance signal and for data post-processing of the magnetic resonance signal.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the automatic determination is based on template-based feature detection, model-based feature detection, or template-based feature detection and model-based feature detection within the movement signal.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein a first derivative, a second derivative, or the first derivative and the second derivative of the movement signal is provided and used in the automatic determination of the one or more time points.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein at least one time point for triggering of the one or more time points is automatically set in an R-R interval preceding a cardiac cycle during which a corresponding magnetic resonance signal is acquired.

20. An apparatus for generating an image data set of a moving part of a human undergoing a cardiac movement, the apparatus comprising:

a magnetic resonance (MR) scanner configured to acquire a raw data signal;

a control unit configured to;

separate a magnetic resonance signal and a movement signal from the raw data signal, wherein the movement signal is derived from and describes a mechanical activity of the moving body part within the movement cycle, and wherein the movement signal is a cardiac component of a Pilot Tone signal;

automatically assign at least two physiological phases of the moving body part to the movement signal, wherein the automatic assignment does not introduce a delay between the movement signal and the magnetic resonance signal; and

automatically determine, set, or determine and set one or more time points for triggering an acquisition of the magnetic resonance signal, for data post-processing of the magnetic resonance signal, or for triggering the acquisition of the magnetic resonance signal and for data post-processing of the magnetic resonance signal.