US 7,423,430 B1 · Adaptive parallel acquisition and reconstruction of dynamic MR images

Abstract

A method for acquiring magnetic resonance (MR) data from a dynamic object in which a k-space sampling schedule are produced. The k-space sampling table is produced using a spatio-temporal model of the beating heart, time sequential sampling theory and a known number of parallel receive channels (coils). The imaging pulse sequence is repeated to play out the phase encodings in the order listed in the k-space sampling schedule and the k-space data sets acquired through the parallel receive channels are combined and used to reconstruct a sequence of images. The method is an improved process for dynamic MRI, designed to overcome the limitations of current MRI systems in imaging dynamic phenomena and produces highly accurate motion movies of the structure, function, perfusion and viability of various anatomical regions in MRI subjects such as the beating heart, flow of contrast agents in blood vessels, brain excitation, or joint movement.

Claims23

Dependent claims

A method for acquiring and producing images of a time-varying subject with a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system equipped with parallel imaging hardware, the steps comprising:

a) performing a prescan of the time-varying subject that includes:
a)i estimating coil characteristics for a plurality of receiver coils in the parallel imaging hardware;
a)ii estimating a dynamic model for the time-varying subject;
a)iii computing a dynamic sampling schedule using the estimated dynamic model and coil characteristics, the sampling schedule including information indicative of the position in k-space, order and timing at which k-space image data is to be acquired;
and
b) performing a scan of the time-varying subject using a pulse sequence that directs the MRI system to acquire k-space image data through the plurality of receiver coils using the dynamic sampling schedule;
and
c) reconstructing an image using the k-space image data acquired in step b).

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Adaptive parallel acquisition and reconstruction of dynamic MR images

Life of this patent

Adaptive parallel acquisition and reconstruction of dynamic MR images

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims23