Coils for magnetic resonance spectroscopy and imaging of human breast

• US 8,731,635 B2
• Filed: 11/06/2008
• Issued: 05/20/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/07/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: University of Pittsburgh of The Commonwealth System of Higher Education
• Original Assignee: University of Pittsburgh of The Commonwealth System of Higher Education
• Inventors: He, Qiuhong
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, Long V.
• Assistant Examiner(s): PENG, BO JOSEPH
• Application Number:
  US12/266,007
• Publication Number:
  US 20090118611A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,021 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 600/410
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 33/34046 Volume type coils, e.g. bird-cage coils; Quadrature bird-cage coils; Circularly polarised coils
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 33/341 comprising surface coils
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 33/3415 comprising arrays of sub-coils , i.e. phased-array coils with flexible receiver channels
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 33/3635 Multi-frequency operation
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 33/485 based on chemical shift information [CSI] or spectroscopic imaging, e.g. to acquire the spatial distributions of metabolites

Abstract

System(s) and method(s) for magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy, and magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) are provided. A unified heteronuclear coil system includes a volume coil tuned to detect a first nuclei and a butterfly coil tuned to detect a second nuclei for simultaneous detection of both the first nuclei and the second nuclei signals from human breast tissue and perform MRIS. First nuclei and second nuclei each include ¹H, ¹³C, ³¹P, ²³Na, and ¹⁹F. The heteronuclear coil system affords detection of NMR-detectable chemicals specific to cancerous breast tissue to improve breast cancer diagnostic specificity. Adjustment of the heteronuclear coil system to detect various nuclei, combined with a specific pulse excitation sequence, facilitates chemical analysis that provides for chemical discrimination and characterization of compounds present in cancerous and other breast tissue as well as healthy breast physiology.

Claims

1. A coil system for detection in a magnetic resonance apparatus, the coil system comprising:

a butterfly coil tuned for excitation and detection of a first type of nuclei at a magnetic field, wherein the butterfly coil generates a first homogeneous B₁ field;

a volume coil tuned for excitation and detection of a second type of nuclei at the magnetic field, wherein the volume coil is attached to the butterfly coil, wherein the volume coil generates a second homogeneous B₁ field, wherein the second homogeneous B₁ field is perpendicular to the first homogeneous B₁ field; and

at least one of single-tune or double-tune inductive-capacitive circuitry that facilitates, at least in part, to tune the butterfly coil and the volume coil.

2. The coil system of claim 1, the butterfly coil comprises one of a single loop wired into a butterfly shape or two loops, each loop with a rectangular section with a major side and a minor side, wherein each loop includes one or more loops.

3. The coil system of claim 1, the volume coil comprises a plurality of parallel loops arranged in geometry with C_∞

symmetry about an axis that pierces one of the loops through its center.

4. The coil system of claim 3, wherein the two or more loops in the plurality of loops are equally spaced along the symmetry axis.

5. The coil system of claim 3, wherein the magnetic field determines a number of segments in which each loop is segmented, the segments electrically connected with one or more capacitors.

6. The coil system of claim 1, wherein the butterfly coil and the volume coil have resonant frequencies equal, respectively, to the Larmor frequencies of the first type of nuclei and the second type of nuclei at a 1.5 T or greater magnetic field.

7. The coil system of claim 6, wherein the butterfly coil and the volume coil have resonant frequencies equal, respectively, to the Larmor frequencies of the first type of nuclei and the second type of nuclei at a 7 T or greater magnetic field.

8. The coil system of claim 1, wherein the butterfly coil has a resonant frequency equal to a Larmor frequency of at least one of ¹H, ¹³C, ¹⁹F, ²³Na, or ³¹P.

9. The coil system of claim 8, wherein the volume coil has a resonant frequency equal to the Larmor frequency of at least one of ¹H, ¹³C, ¹⁹F, ²³Na, or ³¹P.

10. The coil system of claim 1, wherein the butterfly coil has a tuning circuit comprising two or more variable capacitors.

11. The coil system of claim 1, wherein the butterfly coil and the volume coil are tuned to detect in disparate radio frequency channels.

12. A system that facilitates chemical analysis of an image object in a magnetic resonance apparatus, the system comprising:

a heteronuclear coil system component that provides excitation and detection of a first type of nuclei at a magnetic field, wherein the heteronuclear coil system comprises a butterfly outer coil that comprises at least a first loop and a second loop, wherein the first loop and the second loop are configured to be attached to surround the image object, wherein the butterfly outer coil generates a first homogeneous B₁ field, and wherein the butterfly outer coil provides excitation and detection of a second type of nuclei at the magnetic field, wherein the heteronuclear coil system comprises a volume inner coil, wherein the volume inner coil generates a second homogeneous B₁ field, and wherein the second homogeneous B₁ field is perpendicular to the first homogeneous B₁ field; and

a radio frequency (RF) excitation and detection component that drives the heteronuclear coil system and detects a signal there from, wherein the RF excitation and detection component includes at least one of single-tune or multi-tune inductive-capacitive circuitry.

13. The system of claim 12, the heteronuclear coil system component further detects a concentration of at least one chemical associated with a soft tissue disease.

14. The system of claim 12, the butterfly outer coil and the volume inner coils have, respectively, resonant frequencies equal to the Larmor frequency of the first and second types of nuclei at a magnetic field of at least 1.5 T.

15. The system of claim 14, the butterfly outer coil and the volume inner coils have, respectively, resonant frequencies equal to the Larmor frequency of the first and second types of nuclei at a magnetic field of at least 7 T.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the first type of nuclei is the same as the second type of nuclei.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein the first type of nuclei is distinct from the second type of nuclei.