Magnetic resonance imaging apparatus

A Magnetic Resonance Imaging apparatus having an open U- or C-shaped magnet structure, the magnet structure comprising at least one vertical connection member for joining two horizontal wall members which lie one above the other and are supported in a cantilever fashion and which horizontal wall members are held in a predetermined spaced relationship by said vertical member, said vertical member being eccentrically connected to said two wall members at a side edge thereof,

• wherein said horizontal wall members and said vertical member delimit the upper and lower sides and at least a vertical side band of a patient receiving space for receiving at least one part of a patient body, said patient receiving space has three open sides, one frontal open side along the side edges of the horizontal wall members on the side of said horizontal wall members which is opposed to the side at which the vertical wall member is provided and two lateral open sides respectively along the edges of each of the two opposite sides of the said horizontal wall members which are oriented transversally to the said frontal open side of the patient receiving space,
• wherein the said horizontal wall members support means for generating a static magnetic field that permeates said patient receiving space;
• wherein the apparatus further comprises a patient table, supported in an intermediate position between the two horizontal wall members, and lying slightly above the lower horizontal wall member, the said patient table having a bridge like construction comprising a length which is greater than its width and two opposite ends at each one of which an upright supporting element is provided;
• the table being mounted with one end to the corresponding upright supporting element in a rotatable way around a vertical axis intersecting a longitudinal axis of the table, the upright supporting element on the opposite end of the table being slidable relatively to the ground along a circular path corresponding to the rotation of the table around the said vertical axis;
• the upright supporting element which supports the table in a rotatable manner having means for being secured in a fixed relative position relatively to the magnet structure and in which position the extension of the lower wall member between the two edges along the two opposite lateral open sides of the patient receiving space and the distance from the upright supporting element which supports the table in a rotatable manner is less than the length of the patient table between the two upright supporting elements;
• and the said patient table being rotatable relatively to the magnet structure with its longitudinal axis oriented transversally relatively to the two lateral open sides of the patient receiving space and to the edges of the horizontal wall members along which the said lateral open sides are provided and each end of the patient table with the corresponding upright supporting element lying outside of the magnet structure and of the patient receiving space on one of the lateral open sides of the patient receiving space;
• wherein an intermediate part of the table lies over the lower horizontal wall member and the said intermediate part of the patient table;
• wherein the extension of the upper and lower horizontal wall members in the direction of cantilever from the vertical wall member or in a direction transverse to the frontal open side of the patient receiving space is greater than the width of the said intermediate part of the patient receiving space;
• wherein a limited region of the patient receiving space forming an imaging volume in which the static magnetic field has certain desired values of homogeneity, the said limited region having a predetermined position inside the patient receiving space and a predetermined distance from the vertical wall member and from the edges of the horizontal wall members at the lateral and at the frontal open sides;
• and
• the patient table having one or more receptacles for holding and/or connecting receiving coil supports and/or one or more compartments for connecting and/or holding receiving coils;
• wherein the upright supporting element, supporting the table in a rotatable manner being placed relatively to the vertical wall element and to the frontal open side of the patient receiving space at such a distance from the said vertical wall member that it can be displaced angularly against the vertical wall element to an angular position in which when the longitudinal side edge of the table oriented towards the vertical wall member abuts with the said vertical wall member the longitudinal lateral side edge of the table opposed to the vertical wall member is still at least within the vertical projection of the imaging volume on the said table;
• and at least some of said receptacles for holding and/or connecting receiving coil supports and/or said compartments for connecting and/or holding receiving coils, particularly for the receiving coils associated to limbs or anatomic regions on both right and left sides of the patient, and the receiving coils mounted or fitted in the receptacles for holding and/or connecting receiving coil supports and/or said compartments for connecting and/or holding receiving coils are positioned aligned along an axis perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the patient table and or along a path having the shape of an arc or of a circle concentric with the vertical axis of rotation of the patient table which path passes through at least a portion of the imaging volume.