NMR scanner with motion zeugmatography
First Claim
1. In a gyromagnetic resonance instrument .Iadd.for producing an image of an extended subject which contains both stationary gyromagnetic material and moving gyromagnetic material, in .Iaddend.which .Iadd.the instrument .Iaddend.performs a measurement cycle by applying a transverse excitation signal to a gyromagnetic material and to thereby impart a transverse magnetic moment thereto, and which produces a FID signal responsive to emissions by the transversely magnetized gyromagnetic material, the improvement comprising:
- .Iadd.means for locating the position of the gyromagnetic material within the extended subject which is producing a FID signal;
.Iaddend.means for motion sensitizing a FID signal in which a motion sensitizing magnetic field gradient F is applied to the gyromagnetic material for a period of time 2T after its transverse excitation and prior to the production of the FID signal, and wherein the motion sensitizing magnetic field gradient F has alternating polarity with respect to the gyromagnetic material such that its integral over the time period 2T is substantially zero; and
detector means for receiving the FID signal and producing therefrom a signal S1 (t) which is phase-referenced to the cosine phase of the transverse excitation signal and a signal S2 (t) which is phase-referenced to the sine phase of the transverse excitation signal.
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Abstract
An NMR zeugmatographic scanner is modified to produce flow images. A motion sensitizing gradient field is applied to the gyromagnetic nuclei after transverse excitation and prior to emission measurement. The motion sensitized free induction signal which results is processed using an inverse Fourier transformation to produce a number of useful images.
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Citations
19 Claims
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1. In a gyromagnetic resonance instrument .Iadd.for producing an image of an extended subject which contains both stationary gyromagnetic material and moving gyromagnetic material, in .Iaddend.which .Iadd.the instrument .Iaddend.performs a measurement cycle by applying a transverse excitation signal to a gyromagnetic material and to thereby impart a transverse magnetic moment thereto, and which produces a FID signal responsive to emissions by the transversely magnetized gyromagnetic material, the improvement comprising:
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.Iadd.means for locating the position of the gyromagnetic material within the extended subject which is producing a FID signal;
.Iaddend.means for motion sensitizing a FID signal in which a motion sensitizing magnetic field gradient F is applied to the gyromagnetic material for a period of time 2T after its transverse excitation and prior to the production of the FID signal, and wherein the motion sensitizing magnetic field gradient F has alternating polarity with respect to the gyromagnetic material such that its integral over the time period 2T is substantially zero; and detector means for receiving the FID signal and producing therefrom a signal S1 (t) which is phase-referenced to the cosine phase of the transverse excitation signal and a signal S2 (t) which is phase-referenced to the sine phase of the transverse excitation signal. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 16)
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7. A method for producing .Iadd.from a gyromagnetic material .Iaddend.a FID signal which contains .[.motion.]. information .Iadd.pertaining to the density of the gyromagnetic material and information pertaining to the acceleration of the gyromagnetic material, which information may be used to reconstruct an image.Iaddend. , the steps comprising:
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applying a polarizing magnetic field to the gyromagnetic material; exciting the gyromagnetic material with a magnetic field B1 to produce a transverse magnetic moment M1 therein; applying a motion sensitizing magnetic field gradient F to the gyromagnetic material for a period .Iadd.of time from 0 to .Iaddend.2T after its transverse excitation, wherein the polarity of the field gradient F alternates with respect to the gyromagnetic material such that the integral of the field gradient F over the period 2T is substantially zero;
.Iadd.and such that the field gradient F is symmetrical about the time T;
.Iaddend.andsensing .Iadd.both the amplitude and the phase of .Iaddend.the FID signal produced by the transversely excited gyromagnetic material over a period of time after the time .[.period.]. 2T. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9)
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10. An NMR scanner, the combination comprising:
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means for generating a polarizing magnetic field B0 within a gyromagnetic material; means for generating an excitation magnetic field B1 which produces a transverse magnetic moment in the gyromagnetic material; means for sensing a FID signal produced by the gyromagnetic material excited by said excitation magnetic field B1 ; means for generating a position magnetic field gradient G in the gyromagnetic material to position sensitize the sensed FID signal and to thereby link the sensed FID signal to a location within the gyromagnetic material; means for generating a motion magnetic field gradient F in the gyromagnetic material to motion sensitize the sensed FID signal and to thereby link the sensed FID signal to the motion of the gyromagnetic material at said location; and processor means for receiving sensed FID signals and producing an image which is modulated by the motion of the gyromagnetic material. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13)
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14. In an NMR scanner which produces images related to the density distribution of a gyromagnetic phenomena is a gyromagnetic material, the improvement therein comprising:
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means for motion sensitizing NMR signals produced by the gyromagnetic material, such sensitizing including the application of a magnetic field gradient F of alternating polarity .Iadd.with respect to the gyromagnetic material.Iaddend.; and means for receiving the motion sensitized NMR signals and producing image data which is related to the density distribution of the gyromagnetic phenomena in the material and which is modulated by the motion of the gyromagnetic material. - View Dependent Claims (15)
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18. which is employed to reconstruct an image. .Iaddend. .Iadd.25. The NMR scanner as recited in claim 24 in which the motion field gradient F is substantially anti-symmetrical with respect to time T during said time period. .Iaddend. .Iadd.26. The NMR scanner as recited in claim 24 in which the motion field gradient F is substantially symmetrical with respect to time T during said time period. .Iaddend. .Iadd.27. The NMR scanner as recited in claim 24 in which the image reconstructed from said data indicates the density of said gyromagnetic material at the positions indicated by the position sensitized FID signals. .Iaddend. .Iadd.28. In a gyromagnetic resonance instrument for producing an image of an extended subject which contains both stationary gyromagnetic material and moving gyromagnetic material, in which the instrument performs a cycle with a measurement period between the time of initial excitation TA and the time of FID acquisition TB by applying a transverse excitation field to the gyromagnetic material to thereby impart a transverse excited magnetization therein, and receiving a FID signal responsive to the transverse excited magnetization, the improvement comprising:
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means for applying a magnetic field gradient to the gyromagnetic material during a cycle such that the FID signal which is received is both position and motion sensitized in accordance with the following expression;
space="preserve" listing-type="equation">S(t)=∫
∫
M.sub.1 (r,v)e.sup.2π
iγ
[G·
rt+F·
v(T).spsp.2.sup.] drdvwherein F is the element of the field gradient which is applied during the measurement period for a time 2T, which has alternating polarity with respect to the gyromagnetic material and which has a first integral over the time 2T of zero; wherein G is the element of the field gradient which is applied during the cycle; and
which has a first integral over the cycle which is not zero;wherein phase factor r is the average position vector during the time when the G element of the field gradient is actively applied; wherein phase factor v is the average motion vector during the time when the F element of the field gradient is actively applied; and wherein M1 (r,v) is the gyromagnetic material density of a resolvable volume located at r and having the motion v; detector means for receiving the FID signal S(t) and producing therefrom a signal S1 (t) which is phase-coherently referenced to the cosine-phase of the transverse excitation field and a signal S2 (t) which is phase-coherently referenced to the sine-phase of the transverse excitation field; and processor means for performing an inverse Fourier transform on the complex-pair represented by S1 (t)+iS2 (t) to produce p0 (r) from which an image is reconstructed that indicates the density of the - View Dependent Claims (17)
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19. gyromagnetic material. .Iaddend. .Iadd.29. The gyromagnetic resonance instrument as recited in claim 28 in which said processor means also produces data p0 (r,v) from which an image is reconstructed that indicates the density of the gyromagnetic material, modulated by the resolvable volume average value of motion in the direction of the magnetic field gradient producing the F element. .Iaddend. .Iadd.30. The gyromagnetic resonance instrument as recited in claim 28 in which the F element of the field gradient alternates in polarity a plurality of times during the period 2T. .Iaddend.
Specification