Determining Positions of a Magnetic Field Probe in a Magnetic Resonance Measurement

摘要

A method of determining the position of at least one magnetic field probe located within a pre-defined volume of interest within a magnetic resonance (MR) imaging or spectroscopy arrangement comprises applying a spatially and temporally variable magnetic reference field having a unique time-course at every point in said volume of interest during a preselected time window. An MR signal is acquired from said magnetic field probe during said time window, and the position of the probe is determined from the probe MR signal.

主权项

1. A method of determining the position of at least one magnetic field probe located within a pre-defined volume of interest within a magnetic resonance (MR) imaging or spectroscopy arrangement, said MR imaging or spectrosccopy arrangement comprising:
a main magnet for generating a static magnetic field in said volume of interest, gradient and optionally shim coils for generating gradient and shim magnetic fields, respectively, superimposed to the static magnetic field; an excitation RF coil for exciting magnetic resonance in an object arranged within said volume of interest; a receive RF coil for acquiring object MR signals from said object; a control unit controlling said coils to apply an MR pulse sequence and acquire said object MR signals from said object;said magnetic field probe being configured to measure a local magnetic field property in a sampling region of said magnetic field probe;said magnetic field probe comprising a magnetic resonance (MR) active substance present in said sampling region, means for pulsed MR excitation of said substance and means for receiving a probe MR signal generated by said substance;the method comprising the steps of:
applying a spatially and temporally variable magnetic reference field having a unique time-course at every point in said volume of interest during a preselected time window in which said position shall be determined, said preselected time window substantially overlapping with said pulse sequence; acquiring probe MR signal from said magnetic field probe during said preselected time window; determining the position of said probe from said probe MR signal.