Method and system for quantifying hepatic fat in humans
AssigneeKoninklijke Philips N.V.
InventorThomas Perkins
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A probe unit (100) including a magnet (102, 103) generates a static magnetic B0 field in an examination region and a RF coil (105). An input-output module (201) includes a transmitter (203) which controls the RF coil (105) to excite resonance and cause echoes (210) and a receiver (204) which demodulates and digitizes the echoes (210). A data processing module (206) includes at least one processor programmed to calculate a T2 relaxation distribution plot from a digitized echo (210) train, calculate a first area under the fat peak on the T2 distribution plot, calculate a second area under a water peak on the T2 distribution plot, and normalize the first and second area to determine a fat-to-water ratio.
Claims20
A magnetic resonance system for quantifying an amount of fat in a patient, comprising:
- a portable probe unit positionable adjacent the patient, the probe unit including:
- a magnet which generates a static magnetic B0 field in an examination region outside of the probe unit;
- and
- an RF coil disposed in the probe unit adjacent to a region of interest;
- a data acquisition apparatus connected to the RF coil, the data acquisition apparatus including:
- an input-output module which receives a RF resonance signal from the RF coil and converts it to a digital signal;
- and
- at least one processor which analyzes the digital signal from the input-output unit to determine the amount of fat in the patient.
(canceled)
(canceled)
A method for quantifying an amount of fat in a patient, comprising:
- positioning a portable probe unit adjacent a region of interest to generate a static B0 magnetic field in the region of interest;
- transmitting an RF excitation signal to the region of interest with an RF coil disposed between the probe unit to excite resonance;
- receiving RF resonance signals from the region of interest;
- converting the resonance signals to digital MR data;
- and
- analyzing the digital MR data to calculate a fat-to-water ratio.
(canceled)
(canceled)
An apparatus for quantifying the amount of hepatic fat in a subject, comprising:
- a portable NMR probe which generates a static magnetic B0 field in a region of interest;
- at least one processor programmed to:
- calculate a T2 relaxation distribution plot from a digitized magnetic resonance echo signal;
- calculate a first area under a hepatic fat peak located on the T2 relaxation distribution plot;
- calculate a second area under a water peak located on the T2 relaxation distribution plot;
- and
- normalize the first and second area to generate a hepatic fat-to-water ratio.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.