Simultaneous acquisition of spatial harmonics (SMASH): ultra-fast imaging with radiofrequency coil arrays
US5910728A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Nov 12, 1996 |
| Grant date | Jun 8, 1999 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Nov 12, 2016 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG01R33/561
- WIPO fieldMeasurement
- WIPO sectorInstruments
Abstract
A magnetic resonance (MR) imaging apparatus and technique exploits spatial information inherent in a surface coil array to increase MR image acquisition speed, resolution and/or field of view. Partial signals are acquired simultaneously in the component coils of the array and formed into two or more signals corresponding to orthogonal spatial representations. In a Fourier embodiment, lines of the k-space matrix required for image production are formed using a set of separate, preferably linear combinations of the component coil signals to substitute for spatial modulations normally produced by phase encoding gradients. The signal combining may proceed in a parallel or flow-through fashion, or as post-processing, which in either case reduces the need for time-consuming gradient switching and expensive fast magnet arrangements. In the post-processing approach, stored signals are combined after the fact to yield the full data matrix. In the flow-through approach, a plug-in unit consisting of a coil array with an on board processor outputs two or more sets of combined spatial signals for each spin conditioning cycle, each directly corresponding to a distinct line in k-space. This parti…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.