Magnetic resonance imaging apparatus and method for color-coding tissue based on T1 values
AssigneesKabushiki Kaisha Toshiba, Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation
InventorMitsue Miyazaki
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus according to an exemplary embodiment includes a memory, a specifying unit, and a display controller. The memory stores a corresponding color table representing correspondence relationships between T1 values of which value ranges with respect to each tissue are known and colors to be assigned to pixels with the T1 values. The specifying unit analyzes a T1-valued image and specifies colors to be assigned to each pixel on the basis of T1 values converted from pixel values of each pixel and the corresponding color table. The display controller displays on a display the image color-coded with the specified colors.
Claims16
A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) apparatus comprising:
- MRI gantry components including static and gradient magnetic field generators, at least one radio frequency (RF) coil coupled to an imaging volume, at least one RF transmitter, at least one RF receiver and at least one control computer having at least one processor and memory configured to control said gantry components to collect a plurality of T1-valued images in which signal intensity of a distinct target tissue in each image is increased relative to non-target tissues;
- the memory configured to store a color table representing correspondence relationships between (A) ranges of known T1 values with respect to each tissue and (B) colors to be assigned to pixels with the known T1 values;
- the at least one processor configured to analyze the plurality of T1-valued images and to specify colors to be assigned to each pixel of each of the plurality of T1-valued images on the basis of (a) T1 values, converted from pixel values of each pixel, and said color table;
- and
- the at least one processor configured to display on a display the plurality of T1-valued images color-coded with the specified colors.
A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus comprising:
- MRI gantry components including static and gradient magnetic field generators, at least one radio frequency (RF) coil coupled to an imaging volume, at least one RF transmitter, at least one RF receiver and at least one control computer having at least one processor and memory configured to control said gantry components to collect a plurality of T1-valued images in which signal intensity of a distinct target tissue in each image is increased relative to non-target tissues;
- the memory configured to store a color table representing correspondence relationships between (A) pixel values corresponding to ranges of known T1 values with respect to each tissue and (B) colors to be assigned to pixels with the pixel values;
- the at least one processor configured to analyze the plurality of T1-valued images and to specify colors to be assigned to each pixel of each of the plurality of T1-valued images on the basis of (a) pixel values of each pixel and (b) said color table;
- and
- the at least one processor configured to display on a display the plurality of T1-valued images color-coded with the specified colors.
A magnetic resonance imaging method performed by a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) apparatus including a memory configured to store a color table representing correspondence relationships between (A) ranges of known T1 values with respect to each tissue and (B) colors to be assigned to pixels with the known T1 values, the method comprising:
- collecting, with the MRI apparatus, a plurality of T1-valued images in which signal intensity of a distinct target tissue in each image is increased relative to non-target tissues;
- analyzing the plurality of T1-valued images and specifying colors to be assigned to each pixel of each of the plurality of T1-valued images on the basis of (a) T1 values, converted from pixel values of each pixel, and (b) said color table;
- and
- displaying on a display the plurality of T-1 valued images color-coded with the specified colors.
A magnetic resonance imaging method performed by a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) apparatus including a memory configured to store a color table representing correspondence relationships between (A) pixel values corresponding to ranges of known T1 values with respect to each tissue and (B) colors to be assigned to pixels with the pixel values, the method comprising:
- collecting, with the MRI apparatus, a plurality of T1-valued images in which signal intensity of a distinct target tissue in each image is increased relative to non-target tissues;
- analyzing the plurality of T1-valued images and specifying colors to be assigned to each pixel of each of the plurality of T1-valued images on the basis of (a) pixel values of each pixel and (b) said color table;
- and
- displaying on a display the plurality of T-1 valued images color-coded with the specified colors.
A magnetic resonance image display apparatus comprising:
- at least one processor and memory configured to store a color table representing correspondence relationships between (A) ranges of known T1 values with respect to each tissue and (B) colors to be assigned to pixels with the known T1 values;
- the at least one processor configured to analyze a plurality of T1-valued images in which signal intensity of a distinct target tissue in each image has been increased relative to non-target tissues by an MRI signal acquisition process, and specifies colors to be assigned to each pixel of each of the plurality of T1 valued images on the basis of (a) T1 values converted from pixel values of each pixel and (b) said color table;
- and
- the at least one processor configured to display on a display the plurality of T1-valued images color-coded with the specified colors.
A magnetic resonance image display apparatus comprising:
- a memory configured to store a color table representing correspondence relationships between (A) pixel values corresponding to ranges of known T1 values with respect to each tissue and (B) colors to be assigned to pixels with the pixel values;
- the at least one processor configured to analyze a plurality of T1-valued images in which signal intensity of a distinct target tissue in each image has been increased relative to non-target tissues by an MRI signal acquisition process, and to specify colors to be assigned to each pixel of each of the plurality of T1-valued images on the basis of (a) pixel values of each pixel and (b) said color table;
- and
- the at least one processor configured to display on a display the plurality of T1-valued images color-coded with the specified colors.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.