Methods and apparatus for mobile mri employing a permanent magnet

Abstract

Methods and apparatus are provided to implement low-field MRI systems, which may be accessible and mobile in clinic offices and ICU for point-of-care. The low-field MRI systems are enabled by several features. A mobile magnet provides a stable B0 field generated by permanent material. To increase the stability of the B0 field, a monitoring coil and shimming coil are operated in combination. Further, several non-50 Ohm circuit methods are provided for use in the mobile MRI system. Transmit circuits provided include different damping and detuning circuits. In a receive channel, a receive coil array using parallel-tuned circuits is provided to implement a multi-channel receive. Further, decoupling and off-coil detuning strategies are provided.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.