Magnetic resonance method and apparatus for determining a characteristic of an organ
AssigneeSiemens Healthcare GmbH
InventorsBrett Cowan, Eric Schrauben, Alistair Young, Andreas Greiser
Life of this patent
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Abstract
In a magnetic resonance method and apparatus for determining a characteristic of an organ, a magnetic resonance sequence is executed in order to acquire temporally resolved magnetic resonance data pertaining to the organ. The magnetic resonance sequence includes at least one tagging module, which generates a sub-visual tag of the magnetic resonance data. The characteristic of the organ is determined in a processor using the sub-visual tag.
Claims14
A method for determining a characteristic of an organ of a patient, comprising:
- operating a magnetic resonance (MR) data acquisition scanner, while the patient, having the organ therein, is situated in the MR data acquisition scanner, in order to execute an MR data acquisition sequence so as to acquire temporally resolved MR data relating to the organ, wherein the MR data acquisition sequence is a Linearly Increasing Startup Angles—Steady-State Free Precession (LISA-SSFP) sequence;
- operating said MR data acquisition scanner to execute said MR data acquisition sequence so as to include acquisition of a tagging module that, when an image of the organ is reconstructed from the MR data, produces a sub-visual tag in the reconstructed image, wherein a signal difference in the reconstructed image due to the sub-visual tag is lower than 15% of a maximum signal difference in the reconstructed image;
- and
- in a computer reconstructing said reconstructed image from the MR data so as to include said sub-visual tag in the reconstructed image, and determining the characteristic of the organ using an electronic signal representing the sub-visual tag in the reconstructed image, and making the determined characteristic available from the computer.
A magnetic resonance (MR) apparatus comprising:
- an MR data acquisition scanner;
- a computer configured to operate said MR data acquisition scanner, while a patient, having an organ therein, is situated in the MR data acquisition scanner, in order to execute an MR data acquisition sequence so as to acquire temporally resolved MR data relating to the organ, wherein the MR data acquisition sequence is a Linearly Increasing Startup Angles—Steady-State Free Precession (LISA-SSFP) sequence;
- said computer being configured to operate said MR data acquisition scanner to execute said MR data acquisition sequence so as to include acquisition of a tagging module that, when an image of the organ is reconstructed from the MR data, produces a sub-visual tag in the reconstructed image, wherein a signal difference in the reconstructed image due to the sub-visual tag is lower than 15% of a maximum signal difference in the reconstructed image;
- and
- said computer being configured to reconstruct said reconstructed image from the MR data so as to include said sub-visual tag in the reconstructed image, and to determine a characteristic of the organ using the sub-visual tag in the reconstructed image, and to make an electronic signal representing the determined characteristic available from the computer.
A non-transitory, computer-readable data storage medium encoded with programming instructions, said storage medium being loaded into a computer system of a magnetic resonance (MR) apparatus comprising an MR data acquisition scanner, and said programming instructions causing said computer system to:
- operate a magnetic resonance (MR) data acquisition scanner, while a patient, having an organ therein, is situated in the MR data acquisition scanner, in order to execute an MR data acquisition sequence so as to acquire temporally resolved MR data relating to the organ, wherein the MR data acquisition sequence is a Linearly Increasing Startup Angles—Steady-State Free Precession (LISA-SSFP) sequence;
- operate said MR data acquisition scanner to execute said MR data acquisition sequence so as to include acquisition of a tagging module that, when an image of the organ is reconstructed from the MR data, produces a sub-visual tag in the reconstructed image, wherein a signal difference in the reconstructed image due to the sub-visual tag is lower than 15% of a maximum signal difference in the reconstructed image;
- and
- reconstruct said reconstructed image from the MR data so as to include said sub-visual tag in the reconstructed image, and determine a characteristic of the organ using the sub-visual tag in the reconstructed image, and make an electronic signal representing the determined characteristic available from the computer.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.