Magnetic resonance imaging apparatus and magnetic resonance imaging method
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) apparatus comprising:
- an assembly of gantry components including static and gradient magnetic field generators and at least one radio frequency (RF) coil; and
an MRI control system, connected to control said gantry components, including at least one RF transmitter, at least one RF receiver and one or more computer control circuits, the MRI control system being configured to;
acquire a plurality of MR images from an imaging region including a coronary artery providing a myocardium with blood without using a contrast medium, by applying a spatially selective RF excitation pulse to a region including at least a part of an ascending aorta of a heart; and
generate a plurality of blood flow images of the heart based on the acquired plurality of MR images,wherein the plurality of MR images are acquired while changing, for each of the plurality of MR images, respective traveling times of the inflowing blood between each application of the spatially selective RF excitation pulse and each data acquisition so that a start time of each data acquisition is in the same cardiac time phase regardless of using the different traveling times, by changing a delay time from a synchronization signal to the spatially selective RF excitation pulse.
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Abstract
According to one of the aspects of an MRI apparatus of the present invention, the MRI apparatus includes an imaging data acquiring unit and a blood flow information generating unit. The imaging data acquiring unit acquires imaging data from an imaging region including myocardium, without using a contrast medium, by applying a spatial selective excitation pulse to a region including at least a part of an ascending aorta for distinguishably displaying inflowing blood flowing into the imaging region. The blood flow information generating unit generates blood flow image data based on the imaging data.
23 Citations
33 Claims
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1. A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) apparatus comprising:
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an assembly of gantry components including static and gradient magnetic field generators and at least one radio frequency (RF) coil; and an MRI control system, connected to control said gantry components, including at least one RF transmitter, at least one RF receiver and one or more computer control circuits, the MRI control system being configured to; acquire a plurality of MR images from an imaging region including a coronary artery providing a myocardium with blood without using a contrast medium, by applying a spatially selective RF excitation pulse to a region including at least a part of an ascending aorta of a heart; and generate a plurality of blood flow images of the heart based on the acquired plurality of MR images, wherein the plurality of MR images are acquired while changing, for each of the plurality of MR images, respective traveling times of the inflowing blood between each application of the spatially selective RF excitation pulse and each data acquisition so that a start time of each data acquisition is in the same cardiac time phase regardless of using the different traveling times, by changing a delay time from a synchronization signal to the spatially selective RF excitation pulse. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 32)
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31. A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) method comprising:
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acquiring 3-dimensional MR imaging data sets from an imaging region including a coronary artery providing a myocardium with blood without using a contrast medium, by applying a spatially selective RF excitation pulse plural times to a region including (a) at least a part of an ascending aorta of a heart; and generating a plurality of blood flow images of the heart based on the acquired MR imaging data, wherein the plurality of MR imaging data sets are acquired while changing, for each of the plurality of MR imaging data sets, respective traveling times of the inflowing blood between each application of the spatially selective RF excitation pulse and each data acquisition so that a start time of each data acquisition is in the same cardiac time phase regardless of using the different traveling times, by changing a delay time from a synchronization signal to the spatially selective RF excitation pulse.
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33. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus comprising:
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an assembly of gantry components including static and gradient magnetic field generators, and at least one radio frequency (RF) coil; and an MRI control system, connected to control said gantry components, including at least one RF transmitter, at least one RF receiver and one or more computer control circuits, the MRI control system configured to; acquire a plurality of MR images from an imaging region including a coronary artery providing a myocardium with blood without using a contrast medium, including application of a spatially selective RF excitation pulse to a region including at least a part of an ascending aorta of a heart; and generate a plurality of blood flow images of the heart based on the acquired plurality of MR images, wherein the plurality of MR images are acquired while changing, for each of the plurality of MR images, respective traveling times of the inflowing blood between each application of the spatially selective RF excitation pulse and each data acquisition so that a start time of each data acquisition is in the same cardiac time phase regardless of using the different traveling times, by changing a delay time from a synchronization signal to the spatially selective RF excitation pulse.
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Specification