METHOD OF TIME-EFFICIENT 4D MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING

摘要

A method of operating a respiratory-guided magnetic resonance imaging system (10) with regard to triggering of magnetic resonance image acquisition, the magnetic resonance imaging system (10) being connectable to a respiration monitoring device (46) which is configured to provide an output signal (48) whose level represents a respiration state of the subject of interest (20), the method comprising a step (56) of generating an interleaved acquisition scheme for acquiring magnetic resonance images, a step (60) of adapting, in case of an occurrence of an irregularity in the breathing of the subject of interest (20) in the output signal (48) obtained by the respiration monitoring device (46) in the course of executing magnetic resonance image acquisition, at least one parameter of the interleaved acquisition scheme, wherein the at least one adapted parameter is at least one of a next respiration state of the subject of interest (20) to trigger on for acquiring at least one magnetic resonance image, a radio frequency pulse sequence-inherent idle time, and the chronological order of at least one slice of the plurality of slices to be imaged of at least the portion of the subject of interest (20), a step (62) of halting execution of magnetic resonance image acquisition, and a step (64) of resuming execution of magnetic resonance image acquisition pursuant to the interleaved acquisition scheme using the adapted parameter; a respiratory-guided magnetic resonance imaging system (10) having a control unit (26) that is configured to carry out steps (56-64) of an embodiment of the disclosed method; and a software module (44) for carrying out an embodiment of the disclosed method, wherein the method steps (56-64) to be conducted are converted into a program code that is implementable in a memory unit (30) and is executable by a processor unit (32) of the respiratory-guided magnetic resonance imaging system (10).

主权项

1. A method of operating a respiratory-guided magnetic resonance imaging system with regard to triggering of magnetic resonance image acquisition, the magnetic resonance imaging system being configured for acquiring magnetic resonance images of a plurality of slices from at least a portion of a subject of interest over a plurality of breathing cycles of the subject of interest, and the magnetic resonance imaging system being connectable to a respiration monitoring device which is configured to provide an output signal whose level represents a respiration state of the subject of interest, the method comprising
generating an interleaved acquisition scheme for acquiring within the plurality of breathing cycles at least one magnetic resonance image of each slice of the plurality of slices at each respiration state of a plurality of selected respiration states of the subject of interest, the triggering on the selected respiration states being based on predetermined threshold signal levels of the respiration monitoring device, commencing magnetic resonance image acquisition pursuant to the interleaved acquisition scheme, and, during executing magnetic resonance image acquisition pursuant to the interleaved acquisition scheme, adapting, in case of an occurrence of an irregularity in the breathing of the subject of interest in the output signal obtained by the respiration monitoring device in the course of executing magnetic resonance image acquisition pursuant to the interleaved acquisition scheme, at least one parameter of the interleaved acquisition scheme for advancing another acquiring of a magnetic resonance image of the interleaved acquisition scheme, wherein the at least one adapted parameter is at least one of
a next respiration state of the subject of interest to trigger on for acquiring at least one magnetic resonance image,a radio frequency pulse sequence-inherent idle time, anda chronological order of at least one slice of the plurality of slices to be imaged of at least the portion of the subject of interest, halting execution of magnetic resonance image acquisition pursuant to the interleaved acquisition scheme, and resuming execution of magnetic resonance image acquisition pursuant to the interleaved acquisition scheme using the adapted parameter.