Breath-hold detection for magnetic resonance imaging

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10401463-B2
Application number	US-201415105297-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 20, 2014
Priority date	Sep 24, 2012
Publication date	Sep 3, 2019
Grant date	Sep 3, 2019

Abstract

Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging of an area ( 144 ) of a subject of interest ( 120 ) includes issuing a breath-hold command to the subject of interest ( 120 ), performing motion detection of the subject of interest ( 120 ) to detect a breath-hold condition in the area ( 144 ) of the subject of interest ( 120 ), upon detection of the breath-hold condition in the area ( 144 ) of the subject of interest ( 120 ), performing k-space ( 154 ) sampling of the area ( 144 ) of the subject of interest ( 120 ) with a given resolution, processing the k-space ( 154 ) samples covering the area ( 144 ) of the subject of interest ( 120 ) to obtain a MR image of the area ( 144 ) of the subject of interest ( 120 ).

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for magnetic resonance (MR) imaging of an area of a subject of interest, comprising
issuing a breath-hold command to the subject of interest,
performing motion detection of the subject of interest to detect a breath-hold condition in an area of the subject of interest,
performing k-space sampling of the area of the subject of interest to acquire a first subset of k-space samples from the set of k-space samples covering the area of the subject of interest prior to detection of the breath-hold condition in the area of the subject of interest, wherein the first subset includes k-space samples acquired adjacent a periphery of k-space before the patient is in the breath-hold condition and k-space samples acquired in the peripheral portion of k-space after the breath-hold condition, and wherein the first subset covers less that all of k-space,
upon detection of the breath-hold condition in the area of the subject of interest, performing k-space sampling of the area of the subject of interest with a given resolution, comprising performing k-space sampling to acquire a second subset of k-space samples covering the area of the subject of interest, wherein the second subset covers a central portion of k-space but does not cover all of k-space,
processing the k-space samples covering the area of the subject of interest to obtain a MR image of the area of the subject of interest comprising processing the first and second subset of k-space samples to obtain the MR image of the area of the subject of interest,
wherein the first and the second subset of k-space samples together cover the area of the subject of interest with the given resolution, and
the step of performing motion detection of the subject of interest to detect a breath-hold condition in the area of the subject of interest is performed at least partially during the acquisition of the first and/or second subset of k-space samples,
wherein the step of processing the k-space samples covering the area of the subject of interest to obtain a MR image of the area of the subject of interest further comprises rejecting and/or weighing k-space samples from the first and/or the second subset of k-space samples depending on the detected motion of the area of the subject of interest.

2. The method for magnetic resonance imaging according to claim 1 , wherein processing the k-space samples covering the area of the subject of interest includes reconstructing the samples into the magnetic resonance image of the area of the subject of interest and further including:
controlling a display device to display the MR image.

3. The method for magnetic resonance imaging according to claim 2 , wherein the step of performing k-space sampling of the area of the subject of interest to acquire the first subset of k-space samples from the set k-space samples covering the area of the subject of interest with a given resolution comprises performing repetitive k-space sampling of the first subset of k-space samples.

4. The method for magnetic resonance imaging according to claim 2 , wherein the step of performing k-space sampling of the area of the subject of interest to acquire a first subset of k-space samples comprises performing k-space sampling starting in a periphery of the k-space and extending k-space sampling to a center of the k-space.

5. The method for magnetic resonance imaging according to claim 2 , wherein the step of performing k-space sampling to acquire a second subset of k-space samples covering the area of the subject of interest comprises performing k-space sampling starting in a center of the k-space and extending k-space sampling to a periphery of the k-space.

6. The method for magnetic resonance imaging according to claim 2 , wherein the step of performing motion detection of the subject of interest to detect a breath-hold condition in the area of the subject of interest comprises:
performing generation of k-space samples based on the first subset of k-space samples, and
evaluating consistency of the generated samples and corresponding acquired samples within the k-space.

7. The method for magnetic resonance imaging according to claim 2 , further comprising:
providing a motion detection device for monitoring motion of the subject of interest in the area of the subject of interest, wherein the step of performing motion detection of the subject of interest to detect a breath-hold condition in the area of the subject of interest comprises performing breath-hold detection using the motion detection device.

8. The method for magnetic resonance imaging according to claim 2 , wherein the step of performing motion detection of the subject of interest to detect a breath-hold condition in the area of the subject of interest comprises monitoring motion in the area of the of the subject of interest to detect convergence to the breath-hold condition.

9. The method for magnetic resonance imaging according to preceding claim 8 , wherein the step of monitoring motion in the area of the of the subject of interest to detect convergence to the breath-hold condition comprises monitoring a velocity of motion in the area of the of the subject of interest, and the step of detection of the breath-hold condition in the area of the subject of interest comprises detection of the breath-hold condition as detection of the velocity of motion in the area of the of the subject of interest being close to zero with a margin.

10. The method for magnetic resonance imaging according to claim 2 , further comprising
adapting a sampling strategy for performing the k-space sampling of the area of the subject of interest depending on the motion detection and/or convergence of the breath-hold condition of the subject of interest.

11. The method for magnetic resonance imaging according to claim 2 , wherein the step of performing k-space sampling of the area of the subject of interest comprises performing k-space sampling with a distributed sampling scheme, and
the step of processing the acquired k-space samples comprises reconstruction of holes in the k-space based on the acquired k-space samples based on the distributed sampling scheme.

12. A non-transitory computer-readable medium carrying computer software instructions for controlling one or more processors of an MR imaging system to control the MR imaging system according to the method of claim 2 .

13. A magnetic resonance (MR) imaging system for providing an image representation of an area of a subject of interest positioned in an examination space of the MR imaging system, wherein the MR imaging system is adapted to perform the method for magnetic resonance imaging according to claim 2 .

14. The method for magnetic resonance imaging according to claim 2 , wherein the step of performing k-space sampling to acquire a second subset of k-space samples covering the area of the subject of interest comprises re-acquiring k-space samples from the first and/or the second subset of k-space samples depending on the detected motion of the area of the subject of interest.

15. A magnetic resonance (MR) imaging system comprising:
a main magnet configured to generate a main B 0 field through an examination space;
gradient magnetic field coils configured to generate magnetic field gradients across the examination space;
at least one radiofrequency (RF) coil configured to excite magnetic resonance and receive magnetic resonance signals from the examination space;
a display monitor; and,
one or more processors configured to:
receive motion information indicative of respiratory motion of an area of interest of the subject disposed in

Assignees

• Koninklijke Philips Nv

Inventors

• Van Den Brink Johan Samuel
• Beck Gabriele Marianne

Classifications

• G01R33/4826

  in three dimensions · CPC title

• G01R33/4818

  MR characterised by data acquisition along a specific k-space trajectory or by the temporal order of k-space coverage, e.g. centric or segmented coverage of k-space · CPC title

• G01R33/56509

  due to motion, displacement or flow, e.g. gradient moment nulling (G01R33/567 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G01R33/5676 Primary

  Gating or triggering based on an MR signal, e.g. involving one or more navigator echoes for motion monitoring and correction · CPC title

• G01R33/283

  Intercom or optical viewing arrangements, structurally associated with NMR apparatus · CPC title