Magnetic resonance imaging apparatus and magnetic resonance imaging method

• US 8,228,063 B2
• Filed: 07/15/2009
• Issued: 07/24/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/17/2008
• 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: Kimura, Tokunori
• Primary Examiner(s): ARANA, LOUIS M
• Application Number:
  US12/503,161
• Publication Number:
  US 20100013475A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,105 Days
• Field of Search: 324/309, 324/307, 324/310, 324/312
• 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 33/4824 using a non-Cartesian trajectory
• 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 33/5605 by transferring coherence or polarization from a spin species to another, e.g. creating magnetization transfer contrast [MTC], polarization transfer using nuclear Overhauser enhancement [NOE]
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 33/561 by reduction of the scanning time, i.e. fast acquiring systems, e.g. using echo-planar pulse sequences
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 33/5611 Parallel magnetic resonance imaging, e.g. sensitivity encoding [SENSE], simultaneous acquisition of spatial harmonics [SMASH], unaliasing by Fourier encoding of the overlaps using the temporal dimension [UNFOLD], k-t-broad-use linear acquisition speed-up technique [k-t-BLAST], k-t-SENSE structural details of arrays of sub-coils G01R33/3415
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 33/5616 using gradient refocusing, e.g. EPI
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 33/5619 by temporal sharing of data, e.g. keyhole, block regional interpolation scheme for k-Space [BRISK]
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 33/56341 Diffusion imaging
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 33/56366 Perfusion imaging

Abstract

A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus includes a data acquisition unit and an image data generating unit. The data acquisition unit acquires plural pieces of magnetic resonance data for generating plural species of image data of which contrasts are mutually different from a same object with mutually different data amounts by setting parameters for controlling the contrasts to mutually different values. The image data generating unit generates the plural species of the image data by image reconstruction processing and composition processing of the plural pieces of the magnetic resonance data or plural pieces of data derived from the plural pieces of the magnetic resonance data.

Claims

1. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus comprising:

a data acquisition unit configured to acquire plural sets of magnetic resonance data for generating plural species of image data of an object having contrasts that are mutually different from each other, said sets of acquired data having mutually different data amounts respectively corresponding to parameter values for controlling respectively corresponding image contrasts to mutually different values; and

an image data generating unit configured to generate the plural species of the image data by performing both image reconstruction processing and composition processing of the plural sets of magnetic resonance data or of plural sets of data derived from the plural sets of magnetic resonance data,

wherein said data acquisition unit is configured to acquire the plural sets of magnetic resonance data wherein magnetic resonance data corresponding to at least one parameter value for controlling contrast has an amount of data necessary to generate image data and magnetic resonance data corresponding to at least one other parameter value for controlling contrast which has a data amount smaller than that necessary to generate image data.

2. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus as in claim 1,

wherein said data acquisition unit is configured to acquire the plural sets of magnetic resonance data so that magnetic resonance data corresponding to at least one other parameter value for controlling contrast are data only in a low frequency region.

3. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus as in claim 1,

wherein said data acquisition unit is configured to acquire the plural sets of magnetic resonance data for generating at least two of:

(a) T1 weighted image data, (b) T2 weighted image data, (c) proton density image data, (d) fluid attenuated inversion recovery image data, (e) diffusion weighted image data, and (f) perfusion weighted image data.

4. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus as in claim 1,

wherein said data acquisition unit is configured to acquire one set of magnetic resonance data by setting a b value indicating an intensity of a motion probing gradient pulse to a first value which can be regarded as zero and acquire another set of magnetic resonance data by setting the b value to a second value larger than zero.

5. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus as in claim 1,

wherein said data acquisition unit is configured to acquire the plural sets of magnetic resonance data so that an application direction of a motion probing gradient pulse in acquisition of each set of magnetic resonance data is set to be a mutually different direction.

6. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus as in claim 1,

wherein said image data generating unit is configured to perform the composition processing after correcting amplitude and/or phase of the plural sets of magnetic resonance data or the sets of data.

7. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus as in claim 1,

wherein said image data generating unit is configured to perform the composition processing after correcting amplitude and/or phases of the plural sets of magnetic resonance data so that the amplitude and/or phase are matched between data having a maximum data amount and data having a non-maximum data amount.

8. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus as in claim 1,

wherein said image data generating unit is configured to perform the composition processing after correcting amplitude and/or phases of plural sets of real space data derived from the plural sets of magnetic resonance data without changing the data format from a complex data format.

9. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus as in claim 1,

wherein said data acquisition unit is configured to acquire the plural sets of magnetic resonance data so that the plural sets of magnetic resonance data subjected to the composition processing or the plural sets of data subjected to the composition processing overlap between each set, and

said image data generating unit is configured to perform the composition processing after performing correction processing of the plural sets of magnetic resonance data or the plural sets of data by using a correction parameter obtained based on data from a part where the plural sets of magnetic resonance data or the plural sets of the data overlap between each set.

10. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus as in claim 1,

wherein said data acquisition unit is configured to acquire the plural sets of magnetic resonance data so that the plural sets of magnetic resonance data subjected to the composition processing or the plural sets of data subjected to the composition processing overlap between each set, and

said image data generating unit is configured to perform the composition processing after performing windowing of the plural sets of magnetic resonance data or the plural sets of data by using weighting functions.

11. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus as in claim 1,

wherein said data acquisition unit is configured to acquire magnetic resonance data corresponding to the first value by single shot data acquisition and to acquire magnetic resonance data corresponding to the second value by multi-shot data acquisition.

12. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus as in claim 1,

wherein said data acquisition unit is configured to acquire magnetic resonance data corresponding to the first value by single shot data acquisition and to acquire magnetic resonance data corresponding to the second value by multi-shot data acquisition.

13. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus as in claim 1,

wherein said data acquisition unit is configured to acquire plural sets of magnetic resonance data for generating plural species of image data each having arbitrary spatial axes and a time axis.

14. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus as in claim 1,

wherein said data acquisition unit is configured to acquire the plural sets of magnetic resonance data by setting b values each indicating an intensity of a motion probing gradient pulse to mutually different values, and

said image data generating unit is configured to generate one of the plural species of image data based on k-space data arranged from a center part of k-space toward a high frequency side in a descending order of amplitude of a corresponding b value by respectively performing composition processing of the plural sets of magnetic resonance data corresponding to the mutually different b values.

15. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus as in claim 1,

wherein said data acquisition unit is configured to acquire plural sets of magnetic resonance data corresponding to motion probing gradient pulses of which application directions are set to mutually different directions including an isotropic direction, and

said image data generating unit is configured to generate one of the plural species of image data based on k-space data in which magnetic resonance data acquired by applying a motion probing gradient pulse in the isotropic direction are arranged in a center part of k-space.

16. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus as in claim 1,

wherein said data acquisition unit is configured to set a same parameter for respectively controlling contrast in acquisition of at least three sets of magnetic resonance data to mutually different values per set.

17. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus as in claim 1,

wherein said data acquisition unit is configured to set plural scans for acquisition of the plural sets of magnetic resonance data in one data acquisition sequence and to set parameters for controlling contrast in the acquisition so that each of the parameters includes at least three values and the values of each parameter are mutually different per scan.

18. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus as in claim 1,

wherein said image data generating unit is configured to generate one of the plural species of image data based on k-space data obtained by arranging the plural sets of magnetic resonance data in k-space from a low frequency side toward a high frequency side of k-space in an order of similarity degree of contrast of image data obtained from each set of magnetic resonance data to a desired contrast.

19. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus as in claim 1,

wherein said data acquisition unit is configured to acquire the plural sets of magnetic resonance data in a non-orthogonal manner.

20. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus as in claim 1,

wherein said image data generating unit is configured to perform the composition processing by matching magnitude relation of contrast of the plural sets of magnetic resonance data or the plural sets of data.

21. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus as in claim 20,

wherein said image data generating unit is configured to match the magnitude relation of contrast by inverting a sign of data having an inverse contrast out of the plural sets of magnetic resonance data or the plural sets of data.

22. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus as in claim 20,

wherein said image data generating unit is configured to determine the magnitude relation of contrast by calculating a ratio between sets of data corresponding to a common part of the plural sets of magnetic resonance data or the plural sets of data and match the determined magnitude relation of contrast.

23. The magnetic resonance imaging apparatus as in claim 1,

wherein said image data generating unit is configured to perform the composition processing, after correcting amplitude and/or phases of the plural sets of data so that amplitude and/or phases are matched between data derived from magnetic resonance data whose data amount is maximum and other data derived from magnetic resonance data whose data amounts are not maximum.

24. A magnetic resonance imaging method comprising:

acquiring plural sets of magnetic resonance data for generating plural species of image data of an object having contrasts that are mutually different from each other, said sets of acquired data having mutually different data amounts respectively corresponding to parameter values for controlling respectively corresponding image contrasts to mutually different values; and

generating the plural species of the image data by performing image reconstruction processing and composition processing of the plural sets of magnetic resonance data or of plural sets of data derived from the plural sets of magnetic resonance data,

wherein said plural sets of magnetic resonance data are acquired corresponding to at least one parameter value for controlling contrast have an amount of data necessary to generate image data and magnetic resonance data corresponding to at least one other parameter value for controlling contrast which has a data amount smaller than that necessary to generate image data.