Magnetic resonance imaging apparatus and magnetic resonance imaging method

• US 8,515,526 B2
• Filed: 01/27/2010
• Issued: 08/20/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 02/05/2009
• 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: Miyazaki, Mitsue, Sugiura, Satoshi
• Primary Examiner(s): Smith, Ruth S
• Application Number:
  US12/694,610
• Publication Number:
  US 20100198053A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,301 Days
• Field of Search: 600/410, 600/419, 324/306, 324/307, 324/309
• US Class Current: 600/419
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/055 involving electronic [EMR] or nuclear [NMR] magnetic resonance, e.g. magnetic resonance imaging
• 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 33/5614 using a fully balanced steady-state free precession [bSSFP] pulse sequence, e.g. trueFISP
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 33/5635 Angiography, e.g. contrast-enhanced angiography [CE-MRA] or time-of-flight angiography [TOF-MRA]
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 33/56366 Perfusion imaging

Abstract

A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus includes a first blood flow image acquisition unit and a second blood flow image acquisition unit. The first blood flow image acquisition unit acquires a first blood flow image of a breast of an object without contrast medium. The second blood flow image acquisition unit acquires a second blood flow image without contrast medium with applying a spin labeling pulse by which a region to be tagged is set based on the first blood flow image as a reference image so as to distinguish blood flowing into a desired region.

Claims

1. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus comprising a computer and associated storage unit configured to:

set a plurality of inversion times different from each other for differentiating whether a tumor of an object is benign or malignant, each of the plurality of inversion times being an inversion time of a spin labeling pulse for tagging blood in a region to be tagged flowing into an imaging region of the object; and

acquire a plurality of blood flow images respectively corresponding to the plurality of inversion times, without contrast medium, by applying the spin labeling pulse and an imaging sequence with each of the set plurality of inversion times.

2. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus as in claim 1, wherein the computer and associated storage unit are further configured to:

acquire a reference image of the object without contrast medium, the reference image being displayed to assist in setting at least the region to be tagged in acquisition of the plurality of blood flow images.

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

wherein the computer and associated storage unit are further configured to acquire the plural blood flow images and the reference image of the object without contrast medium by a three dimensional scan for acquiring echo data corresponding to a predetermined slice encode amount every plural beats in synchronization with heart beat information or pulse wave information of the object.

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

wherein the computer and associated storage unit are further configured to acquire the plural blood flow images and the reference image of the object without contrast medium using a steady state free precession of nuclear magnetic spins.

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

wherein the computer and associated storage unit are further configured to perform normalization of the plural blood flow images using the reference blood flow image of the object without contrast medium and to generate signal variation information based on the plural blood flow images after the normalization.

6. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus as in claim 2, wherein the computer and associated storage unit are further configured to acquire the reference image of the object without contrast medium and to differentiate whether a tumor depicted on the reference image is malignant or benign, based on signal intensities of the plural blood flow images.

7. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus as in claim 2, wherein the computer and associated storage unit are further configured to acquire the reference image of the object without contrast medium and to set the region to be tagged so as to make it possible to specify a blood vessel sustaining a tumor depicted on the reference image.

8. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus as in claim 2, wherein the computer and associated storage unit are further configured to acquire the reference image of the object without contrast medium and to set the region to be tagged so as to include no main blood vessels depicted on the reference image.

9. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus as in claim 2, wherein the computer and associated storage unit are further configured to acquire the reference image of the object without contrast medium and to set the region to be tagged so as not to include only a specific main blood vessel depicted on the reference image.

10. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus as in claim 1, wherein the computer and associated storage unit are further configured to:

generate signal variation information representing a variation in intensity of a signal from blood versus a variation in inversion time based on the plural blood flow images.

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

wherein the computer and associated storage unit are further configured to generate the signal variation information as a curve representing variation in signal intensity versus inversion time at a desired position common in the plural blood flow images.

12. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus as in claim 11, wherein the curve is a perfusion curve showing signal intensity variations in a wash-in part of blood into the tumor.

13. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus as in claim 11, wherein the curve is a perfusion curve showing signal intensity variations in a wash-in part and a wash-out part of blood into and from the tumor.

14. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus as in claim 1, wherein the computer and associated storage unit are further configured to set a region involving a main blood vessel as the region to be tagged, the region involving the main blood vessel being outside the imaging region.

15. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus as in claim 1, wherein the imaging region of the object is a breast.

16. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus as in claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of the inversion times is not more than 1300 ms.

17. A magnetic resonance imaging method comprising:

setting a plurality of inversion times different from each other for differentiating whether a tumor of an object is benign or malignant, each of the plurality of inversion times being an inversion time of a spin labeling pulse for tagging blood in a region to be tagged flowing into an imaging region of the object; and

acquiring a plurality of blood flow images respectively corresponding to the plurality of inversion times, without contrast medium, by applying the spin labeling pulse and an imaging sequence with each of the set plurality of inversion times.

18. A magnetic resonance imaging method as in claim 17, further comprising:

acquiring a reference image of the object without contrast medium, the reference image being displayed to assist in setting at least the region to be tagged in acquisition of the plurality of blood flow images.