Magnetic resonance imaging apparatus and magnetic resonance imaging method
First Claim
1. A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) apparatus comprising:
- a static magnetic field generator;
gradient magnetic field coils;
at least one radio frequency coil;
a display; and
a control system including at least one control computer coupled to control said display, said gradient magnetic field coils, and said at least one radio frequency coil, said control computer being configured to;
control said gradient magnetic field coils and said at least one radio frequency coil to acquire volume image data including a heart from an object;
automatically calculate spatial-positional locations of pre-determined anatomical features of the heart based on the acquired volume image data;
automatically generate a reference section image of the heart by;
generating a reference section of the heart at a spatial-positional location corresponding to the calculated spatial-positional locations of pre-determined anatomical features of the heart,identifying, from the acquired volume image data, imaging data with spatial-positional locations that correspond to the spatial-positional location of the reference section, andgenerating the reference section image of the heart by forming the identified imaging data into an image;
control the display to display the generated reference section image of the heart;
set a position of an imaging plane for subsequent cardiac imaging corresponding to a position of the displayed reference section image of the heart; and
control said gradient magnetic field coils and said at least one radio frequency coil to acquire a cardiac image of the set imaging plane within the heart of said object.
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Accused Products
Abstract
According to one embodiment, a MRI apparatus includes an acquisition unit, a reference section information calculating unit, a positioning unit and an imaging unit. The acquisition unit acquires frames of section image data including a heart from an object with use of magnetic resonance. The reference section information calculating unit calculates spatial positional information of a reference section of the heart based on the frames of the section image data. The positioning unit displays a reference section image of the heart on a display unit and performs positioning of an imaging part for imaging through the displayed reference section image of the heart. The reference section image is calculated from the frames of the section image data based on the positional information of the reference section. The imaging unit images the imaging part set by the positioning.
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Citations
32 Claims
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1. A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) apparatus comprising:
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a static magnetic field generator; gradient magnetic field coils; at least one radio frequency coil; a display; and a control system including at least one control computer coupled to control said display, said gradient magnetic field coils, and said at least one radio frequency coil, said control computer being configured to; control said gradient magnetic field coils and said at least one radio frequency coil to acquire volume image data including a heart from an object; automatically calculate spatial-positional locations of pre-determined anatomical features of the heart based on the acquired volume image data; automatically generate a reference section image of the heart by; generating a reference section of the heart at a spatial-positional location corresponding to the calculated spatial-positional locations of pre-determined anatomical features of the heart, identifying, from the acquired volume image data, imaging data with spatial-positional locations that correspond to the spatial-positional location of the reference section, and generating the reference section image of the heart by forming the identified imaging data into an image; control the display to display the generated reference section image of the heart; set a position of an imaging plane for subsequent cardiac imaging corresponding to a position of the displayed reference section image of the heart; and control said gradient magnetic field coils and said at least one radio frequency coil to acquire a cardiac image of the set imaging plane within the heart of said object. - 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)
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27. A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) control apparatus comprising:
at least one computer configured to; control gradient magnetic field coils and at least one radio frequency coil of a magnetic resonance imaging apparatus to acquire volume image data including a heart of an object; automatically detect a position of at least one anatomical part of the heart based on the acquired volume image data; automatically calculate a position of at least one reference section of the heart, based on the automatically detected anatomical part of the heart; automatically generate at least one reference section image of the heart by; identifying, from the acquired volume image data, imaging data with positions that correspond to the position of the at least one reference section, and generating the at least one reference section image of the heart by forming the identified imaging data into at least one image; control a display of said magnetic resonance imaging apparatus to display said at least one reference section image of the heart; set at least one imaging plane for imaging corresponding to a position of the displayed at least one reference section image of the heart; and control said gradient magnetic field coils and said at lest one radio frequency coil of said magnetic resonance imaging apparatus to subsequently acquire at least one cardiac image of the at least one imaging plane within the heart. - View Dependent Claims (28, 29)
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30. A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) control apparatus comprising:
at least one computer configured to; control gradient magnetic field coils and at least one radio frequency coil of a magnetic resonance imaging apparatus to acquire volume image data including a heart of an object; automatically calculate a position of at least one reference section of a heart based on the acquired volume image data; automatically generate at least one reference section image of the heart by; identifying, from the acquired volume image data, imaging data with positions that correspond to the position of the at least one reference section, and generating the at least one reference section image of the heart by forming the identified imaging data into at least one image; control a display of said magnetic resonance imaging apparatus to display said at least one reference section image of the heart; set an imaging plane for imaging corresponding to a position of the displayed reference section image of the heart; control said gradient magnetic field coils and said at least one radio frequency coil of said magnetic resonance imaging apparatus to subsequently acquire at least one cardiac image of the imaging plane within the heart; receive, from an input device, a manually inputted instruction to update the displayed reference section image; and update the displayed reference section image, based on the received instruction.
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31. A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) method comprising:
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acquiring volume image data including a heart from an object; automatically calculating spatial-positional locations of pre-determined anatomical features of the heart based only on the acquired volume image data; automatically calculating spatial-positional locations of a reference section of the heart based on the calculated spatial-positional locations of the pre-determined anatomical features of the heart; generating a reference section image of the heart by; identifying, from the acquired volume image data, imaging data with spatial-positional locations that correspond to the spatial-positional locations of the reference section, and generating the reference section image of the heart by forming the identified imaging data into an image; displaying the reference section image of the heart on a display; setting a position of an imaging plane for imaging corresponding to a position of the displayed reference section image of the heart; and subsequently acquiring an MR cardiac image of the imaging plane within the heart. - View Dependent Claims (32)
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Specification