SELECTION OF MEASURING COILS IN MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING

• US 20200132790A1
• Filed: 10/25/2019
• Published: 04/30/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 10/25/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Siemens Healthineers AG (Siemens AG)
• Original Assignee: Siemens Healthcare GMBH (Siemens AG)
• Inventors: Meyer, Stefan, Rick, Manuela
• Granted Patent: US 11,493,576 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 33/36 Electrical details, e.g. matching or coupling of the coil to the receiver
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 33/3664 Switching for purposes other than coil coupling or decoupling, e.g. switching between a phased array mode and a quadrature mode, switching between surface coil modes of different geometrical shapes, switching from a whole body reception coil to a local reception coil or switching for automatic coil selection in moving table MR or for changing the field-of-view G01R33/3671 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 33/385 using gradient magnetic field coils
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 33/3875 using correction coil assemblies, e.g. active shimming
• 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

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to techniques for the selection of one or more measuring coils in magnetic resonance imaging. Herein, account can be taken of a preselection in the selection of the one or more measuring coils from a plurality of candidate coils.

Claims

1. A method for selecting at least one measuring coil from a plurality of candidate coils of a magnetic resonance system used for magnetic resonance imaging, the method comprising:

receiving first control data indicating a measuring range;

receiving second control data indicating an initial coil selection from among the plurality of candidate coils;

based on the measuring range and the initial coil selection, selecting at least one measuring coil from the plurality of candidate coils; and

executing a magnetic resonance protocol to perform magnetic resonance imaging using the selected at least one measuring coil.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the second control data indicates one or more non-selectable coils with respect to the initial coil selection.

3. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the one or more non-selectable coils comprise a spine coil.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the second control data comprises one or more selectable coil classes or coil compartments.

5. The method as claimed in claim 4, wherein the one or more selectable coil classes or coil compartments are defined with respect to a first anatomical region.

6. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein the measuring range is defined with respect to a second anatomical region that is larger than the first anatomical region.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

receiving third control data indicating at least one coil connected to the magnetic resonance system,

wherein the selection of the at least one measuring coil from the plurality of candidate coils is further based on the at least one coil connected to the magnetic resonance system.

8. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

associating the magnetic resonance protocol with the at least one selected measuring coil after selecting the at least one measuring coil from the plurality of candidate coils.

9. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the act of selecting the at least one measuring coil from the plurality of candidate coils is performed (i) after a planning phase, and (ii) before or during a measuring phase associated with the magnetic resonance system.

10. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:

loading the magnetic resonance protocol from a protocol database without associating the magnetic resonance protocol with the at least one selected measuring coil.

11. A magnetic resonance system, comprising:

a user interface configured to enable an initial coil selection from among a plurality of candidate coils; and

a control computer configured to select at least one measuring coil from a plurality of candidate coils of a magnetic resonance system used for magnetic resonance imaging by;

receiving first control data indicating a measuring range;

receiving second control data indicating the initial coil selection from among the plurality of candidate coils via the user interface;

based on the measuring range and the initial coil selection, selecting at least one measuring coil from the plurality of candidate coils; and

executing a magnetic resonance protocol to perform magnetic resonance imaging using the selected at least one measuring coil.

12. The magnetic resonance system as claimed in claim 11, wherein the second control data indicates one or more non-selectable coils with respect to the initial coil selection.

13. The magnetic resonance system as claimed in claim 12, wherein the one or more non-selectable coils comprise a spine coil.

14. The magnetic resonance system as claimed in claim 11, wherein the second control data comprises one or more selectable coil classes or coil compartments.

15. The magnetic resonance system as claimed in claim 14, wherein the one or more selectable coil classes or coil compartments are defined with respect to a first anatomical region.

16. The magnetic resonance system as claimed in claim 15, wherein the measuring range is defined with respect to a second anatomical region that is larger than the first anatomical region.

17. The magnetic resonance system as claimed in claim 11, wherein the control computer is further configured to receive third control data indicating at least one coil connected to the magnetic resonance system, and to select the at least one measuring coil from the plurality of candidate coils further based on the at least one coil connected to the magnetic resonance system.

18. The magnetic resonance system as claimed in claim 11, wherein the control computer is further configured to associate the magnetic resonance protocol with the at least one selected measuring coil after selecting the at least one measuring coil from the plurality of candidate coils.

19. The magnetic resonance system as claimed in claim 11, wherein the control computer is further configured to select the at least one measuring coil from the plurality of candidate coils (i) after a planning phase, and (ii) before or during a measuring phase associated with the magnetic resonance system.

20. The magnetic resonance system as claimed in claim 11, wherein the control computer is further configured to load the magnetic resonance protocol from a protocol database without associating the magnetic resonance protocol with the at least one selected measuring coil.