Method for adjusting at least one measurement parameter for a measurement protocol for a magnetic resonance examination

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11519988-B2
Application number	US-202117232815-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 16, 2021
Priority date	Apr 21, 2020
Publication date	Dec 6, 2022
Grant date	Dec 6, 2022

Abstract

The disclosure relates to techniques for adjusting at least one measurement parameter for a measurement protocol for a magnetic resonance examination. The techniques include providing at least one item of parameter information for adjusting a value of the at least one measurement parameter, wherein the at least one item of parameter information is provided independently of coil information for the magnetic resonance examination, and selecting a value of the at least one measurement parameter. The techniques further include transmitting the selected value to a protocol adjusting unit connected to the scanner unit of the magnetic resonance apparatus, providing coil information of the scanner unit, and automatically adjusting the value of the at least one measurement parameter based on the coil information provided.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for adjusting a measurement parameter for a measurement protocol used to perform a magnetic resonance examination using a magnetic resonance apparatus, comprising:
providing, via selection processing circuitry that is separate from a scanner of the magnetic resonance apparatus, parameter information for adjusting a value of the measurement parameter,
wherein the measurement parameter is from among a set of measurement parameters used as part of radio-frequency magnetic resonance sequence, the set of measurement parameters defining a manner in which a magnetic resonance sequence is to be performed, the measurement parameter having a range of possible values based upon a respective magnetic resonance sequence in which the measurement parameter is used, and
wherein the parameter information is provided independently of coil information associated with the scanner that is used for the magnetic resonance examination,
selecting, via the selection processing circuitry, a value of the measurement parameter;
transmitting, via the selection processing circuitry, the selected value of the measurement parameter to protocol adjusting circuitry that is coupled to the scanner of the magnetic resonance apparatus;
providing, via the protocol adjusting circuitry, the coil information associated with the scanner; and
automatically adjusting, via the protocol adjusting circuitry, the value of the measurement parameter based upon the provided coil information.

2. A magnetic resonance system, comprising:
a magnetic resonance apparatus comprising a scanner for acquiring magnetic resonance image data in accordance with a magnetic resonance examination;
selection processing circuitry that is separate from the scanner of the magnetic resonance apparatus, the selection processing circuitry configured to:
provide parameter information for adjusting a value of a measurement parameter, wherein the measurement parameter is from among a set of measurement parameters used as part of radio-frequency magnetic resonance sequence, the set of measurement parameters defining a manner in which a magnetic resonance sequence is to be performed, the measurement parameter having a range of possible values based upon a respective magnetic resonance sequence in which the measurement parameter is used, and
wherein the parameter information is provided independently of coil information associated with the scanner that is used for the magnetic resonance examination;
select a value of the measurement parameter; and
transmit the selected value of the measurement parameter; and

protocol adjusting circuitry, coupled to the scanner of the magnetic resonance apparatus, configured to:
receive the transmitted selected value of the measurement parameter protocol;
provide the coil information associated with the scanner; and
automatically adjust the value of the measurement parameter based upon the provided coil information.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the act of automatically adjusting the value of the measurement comprises:
adjusting the selected value of the measurement parameter when the selected value of the measurement parameter is in conformity with the provided coil information.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the act of automatically adjusting the value of the measurement parameter comprises:
determining an adapted value of the measurement parameter based upon the provided coil information when the selected value of the measurement parameter is not in conformity with the provided coil information.

5. The method as claimed in claim 4 , further comprising:
generating output information to a user interface indicative of the adapted value of the measurement parameter.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the act of automatically adjusting the value of the measurement parameter comprises:
automatically adjusting the value of the measurement parameter using artificial intelligence.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising:
automatically selecting, via the protocol adjusting circuitry, a local radio-frequency coil based upon the selected value of the measurement parameter.

8. The magnetic resonance system as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the protocol adjusting circuitry is configured to automatically adjust the value of the measurement when the selected value of the measurement parameter is in conformity with the provided coil information.

9. The magnetic resonance system as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the protocol adjusting circuitry is configured to automatically adjust the value of the measurement by determining an adapted value of the measurement parameter based upon the provided coil information when the selected value of the measurement parameter is not in conformity with the provided coil information.

10. The magnetic resonance system as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the protocol adjusting circuitry is configured to generate output information to a user interface indicative of the adapted value of the measurement parameter.

11. The magnetic resonance system as claimed in claim 2 ,
wherein the protocol adjusting circuitry comprises an artificial neural network (ANN), and
wherein the protocol adjusting circuitry is configured to automatically adjust the value of the measurement using the ANN.

12. The magnetic resonance system as claimed in claim 2 ,
wherein the protocol adjusting circuitry is configured to automatically select a local radio-frequency coil based upon the selected value of the measurement parameter.

13. The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the parameter information comprises a permissible value range for the value of the measurement parameter, and
wherein the act of automatically adjusting the value of the measurement comprises:
adjusting the selected value of the measurement parameter to be within the permissible value range based upon the provided coil information.

14. The method as claimed in claim 3 , wherein the measurement parameter is in conformity with the provided coil information when the selected value of the measurement parameter is within a permissible value range in accordance with a local coil, and
wherein local coil is identified via the provided coil information.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the measurement parameter specifies an echo time (TE), a repetition time (TR), a field of view, a matrix size, a number of slices, a fat saturation method, an acceleration method, or a local antenna.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the coil information cannot be accessed via the selection processing circuitry.

17. The method of claim 1 , wherein the act of providing the coil information comprises providing the coil information only when a data connection is present between the protocol adjusting circuitry and the scanner of the magnetic resonance apparatus.

Assignees

• Siemens Healthcare Gmbh

Inventors

• Meyer Stefan
• Rick Manuela

Classifications

• G01R33/5608

  Data processing and visualization specially adapted for MR, e.g. for feature analysis and pattern recognition on the basis of measured MR data, segmentation of measured MR data, edge contour detection on the basis of measured MR data, for enhancing measured MR data in terms of signal-to-noise ratio by means of noise filtering or apodization, for enhancing measured MR data in terms of resolution by means for deblurring, windowing, zero filling, or generation of gray-scaled images, colour-coded images or images displaying vectors instead of pixels (image data processing or generation, in general G06T) · CPC title

• G01R33/3664

  Switching for purposes other than coil coupling or decoupling, e.g. switching between a phased array mode and a quadrature mode, switching between surface coil modes of different geometrical shapes, switching from a whole body reception coil to a local reception coil or switching for automatic coil selection in moving table MR or for changing the field-of-view (G01R33/3671 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G01R33/543 Primary

  Control of the operation of the MR system, e.g. setting of acquisition parameters prior to or during MR data acquisition, dynamic shimming, use of one or more scout images for scan plane prescription (G01R33/546 takes precedence) · CPC title