Automated selection of elements within phased array RF coils
AssigneeHitachi Medical Systems America, Inc.
InventorMichael Steckner
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Abstract
Described herein is a method for the automatic selection of elements within at least one radiofrequency coil used for imaging at least one slice of a volume using a magnetic resonance imaging system which includes performing a one-dimensional projection for at least one angle for each element of an initial selection of multiple elements; and using the at least one projection in selecting and/or deselecting at least one element from the group of multiple elements for imaging of the volume. Noise scans can also be utilized to set the receiver channel gain for imaging as part of the method. The elements can also be ranked, commonly using the element's signal to noise ratio, with selection and/or deselection based on the ranking.
Claims16
A method for the automatic selection of elements within at least one radiofrequency coil used for imaging at least one slice of a volume using a magnetic resonance imaging system that comprises the steps of:
- (a) performing a one-dimensional projection data acquisition for determining the noise level of each element of an initial selection of multiple elements;
- (b) performing a one-dimensional projection for at least one angle for each element of said initial selection of multiple elements;
- (c) using said angled projections in deselecting an element included in said multiple elements that does not image the volume to be imaged;
- (d) ranking said remaining elements by performance;
- (i) wherein steps (c) and (d) are performed in either order;
- and
- (e) using said ranking in selecting said elements from the multiplicity of remaining elements to form a combination of said elements for imaging said volume.
A method for the automatic selection of elements within at least one radiofrequency coil used for imaging at least one slice of a volume using a magnetic resonance imaging system which comprises:
- (a) performing a one-dimensional projection data acquisition for determining the noise level of each element of an initial selection of multiple elements;
- (b) performing a one-dimensional projection for at least two angles for each element of said initial selection of multiple elements;
- and
- (c) using said angled projections in deselecting an element included in said multiple elements that does not image the volume to be imaged.
A method for the automatic selection of elements within at least one radiofrequency coil used for imaging at least one slice of a volume using a magnetic resonance imaging system which comprises:
- (a) performing a one-dimensional projection for at least one angle for each element of an initial selection of multiple elements;
- and
- (b) using said projections in selecting at least one element from said multiple elements for imaging of said volume, wherein said at least one selected element is not selected from said projections that do not produce useful signal within the volume, and further wherein said at least one selected element is not selected from said projections that do not produce signal in a region of interest of the volume;
- and
- (c) performing an additional data acquisition for verifying said noise level of each said element.
A method for the automatic selection of elements within at least one radiofrequency coil used for imaging at least one slice of a volume using a magnetic resonance imaging system which comprises:
- (a) performing at least one one-dimensional projection data acquisition for determining the noise level of each element of an initial selection of multiple elements;
- (b) performing a one-dimensional projection for at least two angles for each element of said initial selection of multiple elements;
- and
- (c) using said projections in selecting at least one element from said multiple elements for imaging of said volume.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.