Magnetic resonance scanner with electromagnetic position and orientation tracking device
First Claim
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1. A system which combines electromagnetic position and orientation tracking with a magnetic resonance scanner, the system comprising:
- a magnetic resonance scanner obtaining a plurality of nuclear magnetic resonance signals of a target sample;
an electromagnetic location tracking device for determining the location of the target sample while a nuclear magnetic resonance signal is obtained; and
a processor for building an image of the target sample using the location of the target sample for each nuclear magnetic resonance signal to combine the nuclear magnetic resonance signals.
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Abstract
A system for combining electromagnetic position and orientation tracking with magnetic resonance scanner is provided. One embodiment includes a magnetic resonance scanner defining a reference coordinate system for scanning a target. Coupled to the magnetic resonance scanner is a magnetic field source which produces a magnetic field. The magnetic field is sensed by a magnetic field sensor which produces a signal proportional to the magnetic field. The magnetic field sensor has a location relative to the reference coordinate system. The location of the magnetic field sensor relative to the reference coordinate system of the magnetic resonance scanner is determined by a location tracking device using at least a line segment model of the magnetic field source and the signal from the magnetic field sensor.
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Citations
48 Claims
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1. A system which combines electromagnetic position and orientation tracking with a magnetic resonance scanner, the system comprising:
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a magnetic resonance scanner obtaining a plurality of nuclear magnetic resonance signals of a target sample;
an electromagnetic location tracking device for determining the location of the target sample while a nuclear magnetic resonance signal is obtained; and
a processor for building an image of the target sample using the location of the target sample for each nuclear magnetic resonance signal to combine the nuclear magnetic resonance signals. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
a data storage location containing a previously acquired image when the processor may combine the previously acquired image and with the output to form a displayable image.
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7. A system according to claim 1, wherein the processor combines multiple sets of magnetic resonance signals, each set representative of a similar area defined by the location of the target sample, into a displayable image.
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8. A system according to claim 7, wherein the processor combines multiple sets of magnetic resonance signals through contiguous averaging.
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9. A system according to claim 1, further comprising a magnet assembly for use in the magnetic resonance scanner, the magnetic assembly comprising:
a coil wound in a first direction for a first number of turns around an axis forming a plurality of loops capable of carrying current, then wound in a second direction opposite to the first direction for a second number of turns, wherein when current flows through the loops a magnetic field is generated which has a homogeneous region outside of the coil, wherein the direction of winding defines a first and a second perpendicular axes in a Cartesian coordinate system and wherein a third axes of the Cartesian coordinate system is defined perpendicular to the first two axes and parallel to the axis of the homogeneous region lies on one of the axes in the Cartesian coordinate system, output of the coil.
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10. A system according to claim 1, further comprising an arrangement of quad coils for generating and sensing magnetic fields for use in the magnetic resonance scanner, the arrangement comprising:
a first pair of adjacent coplanar coils capable of carry current, wherein the first pair of coils has a first coil and a second coil, wherein when current is carried in the first coil and second coil simultaneously and the current in the first coil is opposite in polarity to the current in the second coil, wherein a first magnetic field is generated and the first magnetic field is parallel to a direction defined from the centroid of the first coil to the centroid of the second coil and perpendicular to a static magnetic field produced by the magnetic resonance scanner;
a second pair of adjacent coplanar conductive coils, wherein the second pair of conductive coils has a third conductive coil and a fourth conductive coil and the second pair of conductive coils is adjacent and coplanar with the first pair of conductive coils, wherein the third conductive coil and fourth conductive coil have opposite polarities of detection and are electrically coupled, creating a direction of sensitivity and wherein the direction of sensitivity of the second pair of conductive coils is parallel to a direction defined from the centroid of the third conductive coil to the centroid of the fourth conductive coil, the direction of sensitivity is perpendicular to the direction of first magnetic filed and perpendicular to a static magnetic field produced by the magnetic resonance scanner.
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11. A system according to claim 1, wherein the system is sized to be held in a human hand.
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12. A system according to claim 1, wherein the system is mounted to an articulated arm.
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13. A system according to claim 1, wherein the system is configured to be open planar.
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14. A system according to claim 1, wherein the static magnetic field is generated by a static magnetic field source for use in the magnetic resonance scanner, the static magnetic field source comprising:
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a first plurality of loops wound about a common axis capable of carrying a first current in a first direction along the loops; and
a second plurality of loops subsequently parallel to the first plurality of loops capable of carrying a second current in a direction opposite to the first current in the first plurality of loops, wherein the first current and the second current generate a magnetic field having a homogeneous region wherein the magnetic field in the homogeneous region is substantially parallel to the common axis and the homogeneous region is not in between the first plurality of loops and the second plurality of loops.
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15. A system according to claim 1, wherein three primary magnetic field gradients are generated by an arrangement of quad current carrying coils for use in the magnetic resonance scanner, wherein each direction of the primary magnetic field gradient is parallel to one of three orthogonal axes of the reference coordinate frame and the primary magnetic field is parallel to a static magnetic field of the magnetic resonance scanner, the arrangement comprising:
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a first pair of adjacent coplanar coils capable of carrying current, wherein the first pair of coils has a first coil and a second coil, wherein a first axis of the three orthogonal axes is defined from the centroid of the first coil to the control of the second coil, wherein when current is carried in the first coil and second coil simultaneously and the current in the first coil is opposite in polarity to the current in the second coil primary magnetic field gradient is generated and the direction of the primary magnetic field gradient is parallel to the first axis of the three orthogonal axes;
a second pair of adjacent coplanar coils, capable of carrying current, wherein the second pair of coils has third coil and a fourth coil and the second pair of coils is adjacent and coplanar to the first set of coils, wherein a second axis of the three orthogonal axes is defined from the centroid of the third coil to the centroid of the fourth coil wherein when current is carried in the third coil and fourth coil simultaneously and the current in the third coil is opposite in polarity to the current in the fourth coil a primary magnetic field gradient is generated and a direction of the primary magnetic field gradient is parallel to the second axis of the three orthogonal axes;
wherein when the first, second, third, and fourth coils all carry current simultaneously with identical polarities, a primary magnetic field gradient is generated with a direction which is parallel to the third axis of the three orthogonal axes.
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16. A system according to claim 1, further comprising an arrangement of quad current carrying coils for generating two orthogonal magnetic fields perpendicular to a static magnetic field produced by the magnetic resonance scanner, the arrangement comprising:
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a first pair of adjacent coplanar coils capable of carry current, wherein the first pair of coils has a first coil and a second coil, wherein when current is carried in the first coil and second coil simultaneously and the current in the first coil is opposite in polarity to the current in the second coil a first magnetic field is generated and the first magnetic field is parallel to a direction defined from the centroid of the first coil to the centroid of the second coil;
a second pair of adjacent coplanar coils capable of carry current, wherein the second pair of coils has a third coil and a fourth coil and the second pair of coils is adjacent and coplanar with the first pair of coils, wherein when current is carried in the third coils and fourth coil simultaneously and the current in the third coil is opposite in polarity to the current in the fourth coil, wherein a second magnetic field is generated and the second magnetic field is parallel to a direction defined from the centroid of the third coil to the centroid of the fourth coil and wherein the second magnetic field is orthogonal to the first magnetic field.
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17. A system according to claim 1, further comprising:
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an arrangement of quad conductive coils for detection of two orthogonal magnetic fields perpendicular to a static magnetic field produced by the magnetic resonance scanner, the arrangement comprising;
a first pair of adjacent coplanar conductive coils, wherein the first pair of conductive coils has a first conductive coil and a second conductive coil, wherein the first conductive coil and second conductive coil have opposite polarities of detection and are electrically coupled, creating a first direction of sensitivity and wherein the first direction of sensitivity of the first pair of conductive coils is parallel to a direction defined from the centroid of the first conductive coil to the centroid of the second conductive coil;
a second pair of adjacent coplanar conductive coils, wherein the second pair of conductive coils has a third conductive coil and a fourth conductive coil and the second pair of conductive coils is adjacent and coplanar with the first pair of conductive coils, wherein the third conductive coil and fourth conductive coil have opposite polarities of detection and are electrically coupled, creating a second direction of sensitivity and wherein the second direction of sensitivity of the second pair of conductive coils is parallel to a direction defined from the centroid of the third conductive coil to the centroid of the fourth conductive coil and the first direction of sensitivity is perpendicular to the second direction of sensitivity.
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18. A system which combines electromagnetic position and orientation tracking with magnetic resonance scanning, the system comprising:
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a magnetic resonance scanner having a gradient magnetic field generating element, the magnetic resonance scanner defining a reference coordinate system;
an electromagnetic position and orientation tracking device having a first locator attached to a movable object having a position and orientation relative to the reference coordinate system, a second locator attached to a target sample having a position and orientation relative to the reference coordinate system, a third locator having a known position and orientation relative to the reference coordinate system and coupled to the magnetic resonance scanner, the position and orientation tracking device tracking the position and orientation of the moveable object and the target sample relative to the reference coordinate system;
wherein the position and orientation-tracking device is compatible with the magnetic resonance scanner while the magnetic resonance scanner is scanning a target sample. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41)
a processor which contains a model for the magnetic field source for accounting for magnetic field distorting components.
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25. A system according to claim 18, wherein the magnetic resonance scanner outputs a signal representative of an area of the target sample.
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26. A system according to claim 18, wherein the processor controls the magnetic resonance scanner to provide at signal representative of an area defined by the position and orientation of the moveable object.
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27. A system according to claim 26, wherein the processor combines multiple signals each representative of a different area of the target sample into a displayable image wherein each signal is defined by the position and orientation of the moveable object.
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28. A system according to claim 26, further comprising:
a data storage location containing a previously acquired image wherein the processor may combine the previously acquired image with the signal to form a displayable image, based on position and orientation information about the target sample relative to the reference coordinate system.
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29. A system according to claim 18, wherein the processor controls the magnetic resonance scanner to create a signal representative of an area defined by the position and orientation of the target sample.
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30. A system according to claim 29, wherein the processor combines multiple signals representative of an area defined by position and orientation of the target sample into a displayable image.
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31. A system according to claim 29 further comprising:
a data storage location containing a previously acquired image of the target sample wherein the processor may combine the previously acquired image with the signal to form a displayable image.
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32. A system according to claim 26, wherein the processor combines multiple signals each representative of a similar area of the target sample into a displayable image wherein each signal is defined by the position and orientation of the moveable object.
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33. A system according to claim 32, wherein the processor combines multiple data sets through contiguous averaging.
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34. A system according to claim 18, wherein the system is sized to be held in a human hand.
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35. A system according to claim 18, wherein the system is mounted to an articulated arm.
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36. A system according to claim 18, wherein the system is configured to be open planar.
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37. A system according to claim 18, wherein a static magnetic field is generated by a static magnetic field source for use in the magnetic resonance scanner, the static magnetic field source comprising:
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a first plurality of loops wound about a common axis capable of carry a first current in a first direction along the loops; and
a second plurality of loops substantially parallel to the first plurality of loops capable of carrying a second current in a direction opposite to the first current in the first plurality of loops, wherein the first current and the second current generate a magnetic field having a homogeneous region wherein the magnetic field in the homogeneous region is substantially parallel to the common axis and the homogeneous region is not in between the first plurality of loops and the second plurality of loops.
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38. A system according to claim 18, wherein three primary magnetic field gradients are generated by an arrangement of quad current carrying coils for use in the magnetic resonance scanner, wherein each direction of the primary magnetic field gradient is parallel to one of three orthogonal axes of the reference coordinate frame and the primary magnetic field is parallel to a static magnetic field of the magnetic resonance scanner, the arrangement comprising:
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a first pair of adjacent coplanar coils capable of carrying current, wherein the first pair of coils has a first coil and a second coil, wherein a first axis of the three orthogonal axes is defined from the centroid of the first coil to the centroid of the second coil, wherein when current is carried in the fits coil and second coil simultaneously and the current in the first coil is opposite in polarity to the current in the second coil a primary magnetic field gradient is generated and the direction of the primary magnetic field gradient is parallel to the first axis of the three orthogonal axes;
a second pair of adjacent coplanar coils, capable of carrying current, wherein the second pair of coils has a third coil and a fourth coil and the second pair of coils is adjacent and coplanar to the first set of coils, wherein a second axis of the three orthogonal axes is defined from the centroid of the third coil to the centroid of the fourth coil wherein when current is carried in the third coil and fourth coil simultaneously and the current in the third coil is opposite in polarity to the current in the fourth coil a primary magnetic field gradient is generated and a direction of the primary magnetic field gradient is parallel to the second axis of the three orthogonal axes;
wherein when the first, second, third, and fourth coils all carry current simultaneously with identical polarities, a primary magnetic field gradient is generated with a direction which is parallel to the third axis of the three orthogonal axes.
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39. A system according to claim 18, further comprising an arrangement of quad current carrying coils for generating two orthogonal magnetic fields perpendicular to a static magnetic field produced by the magnetic resonance scanner, the arrangement comprising:
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a first pair of adjacent coplanar coils capable of carry current, wherein the first pair of coils has a first coil and a second coil, wherein when current is carried in the first coil and second coil simultaneously and the current in the first coil is opposite in polarity to the current in the second coil is a first magnetic field is generated and the first magnetic field is parallel to a direction defined from the centroid of the first coil to the centroid of the second coil;
a second pair of adjacent coplanar coils capable of carry current, wherein the second pair of coils has a third coil and a fourth coil and the second pair of coils is adjacent and coplanar with the first pair of coils, wherein when current is carried in the third coil and fourth coil simultaneously and the current in the third coil is opposite in polarity to the current in the fourth coil, wherein a second magnetic field is generated and the second magnetic field is parallel to a direction defined from the centroid of third coil to the centroid of the fourth coil and wherein the second magnetic field is orthogonal to the first magnetic field.
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40. A system according to claim 18, further comprising an arrangement of quad conductive coils for detection of two orthogonal magnetic fields perpendicular to a static magnetic field produced by the magnetic resonance scanner, the arrangement comprising:
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a first pair of adjacent coplanar conductive coils, wherein the first pair of conductive coils has a first conductive coil and a second conductive coil, wherein the first conductive coil and second conductive coil have opposite polarities of detection and are electrically coupled, creating a first direction of sensitivity and wherein the first direction of sensitivity of the first pair of conductive coils is parallel to a direction defined from the centroid of the first conductive coil to the centroid of the second conductive coil;
a second pair of adjacent coplanar conductive coils, wherein the second pair of conductive coils has a third conductive coil and a fourth conductive coil and the second pair of conductive coils is adjacent and coplanar with the first pair of conductive coils, wherein the third conductive coil and fourth conductive coil have opposite polarities of detection and are electrically coupled, creating a second direction of sensitivity and wherein the second direction of sensitivity of the second pair of conductive coils is parallel to a direction defined from the centroid of the third conductive coil to the centroid of the fourth conductive coil and the first direction of sensitivity is perpendicular to the second direction of sensitivity.
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41. A system according to claim 18, further comprising a magnet assembly for use in the magnetic resonance scanner, the magnetic assembly comprising:
a coil wound in a first direction for a first number of turns around an axis forming a plurality of loops capable of carrying current, then wound in a second direction opposite to the first direction for a second number of turns, wherein when current flows through the loops a magnetic field is generated which has a homogeneous region outside of the coil, wherein the direction of winding defines a first and second perpendicular axes in a Cartesian coordinate system and wherein a third axes of the Cartesian coordinate system is defined perpendicular to the first two axes and parallel to the axis of the loops, wherein the homogeneous region lies on one of the axes in the Cartesian coordinate system, outside of the coil.
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42. A method for magnetic resonance imaging of a target sample using a magnetic resonance scanner and position and orientation tracking device, the method comprising:
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creating a homogeneous region of a static magnetic field to build a magnetization of the nuclear spins of the target sample;
generating a radio frequency field for creating a precession of the nuclear spins of the target sample in the homogeneous region;
acquiring radio frequency signals representative of the radio frequency field from the processing nuclear spins in the homogeneous region;
measuring with the position and orientation tracking device the location of the homogeneous region relative to the target sample for each radio frequency signal substantially at the same time as the radio frequency signals are acquired;
processing the acquired radio frequency signals into a format capable of being displayed;
combining the processed acquired radio frequency signals to form an image of a desired region of the target sample based on the measured locations of the homogeneous region relative to the target sample; and
displaying the image. - View Dependent Claims (43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48)
repositioning the homogeneous region relative to the target sample until all of the desired region of the target sample is imaged.
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48. A method for magnetic resonance imaging according to claim 42 further comprising
generating a gradient magnetic field to perform spatial encoding of the nuclear spins of the target sample in the homgenous region; - and
spatially decoding the acquired radio frequency signals;
wherein in the step of combining, the spatially decoded radio frequency signals are used to form an image of the target sample.
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Specification
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Current AssigneePeter D. Jakab
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Original AssigneePeter D. Jakab
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InventorsJakab, Peter D.
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Primary Examiner(s)Lefkowitz, Edward
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Assistant Examiner(s)Fetzner, Tiffany A.
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Application NumberUS09/470,166Time in Patent Office1,182 DaysField of Search324/300-322, 606/130, 600/424, 600/407, 600/423US Class Current324/318CPC Class CodesG01R 33/285 Invasive instruments, e.g. ...
