Method for flow measurement using nuclear magnetic resonance

摘要

Quantitative volumetric flow rates within highly defined regions are determined by a novel technique in which nuclear magnetic resonance is used to determine the fill time for the region of interest. The technique involves the combination of a depolarization pulse (or series of pulses) and a signal generating pulse (or series of pulses), both applied to a specific tomographic region and separated from each other by a time interval of varying length. The pulses are designed to cancel each other out in terms of signal generation, and the signal detected is therefore attributable to matter flowing into the region during the interval between the pulses. The fill time is determined from a plot of signal intensity vs. interval length. The process is readily combined with known NMR imaging techniques to provide a two-dimensional array of flow data.