Magnetic resonance coil unit and method for its manufacture

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016259019-A1
Application number	US-201315031392-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Oct 25, 2013
Priority date	Oct 25, 2013
Publication date	Sep 8, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A magnetic resonance (MR) coil unit,comprising:—an MR coil body which houses at least one MR coil, the MR coil body having a front surface for facing a patient, a reverse surface opposite to the front surface, and at least one opening through the MR coil body which connects the front and reverse surfaces;—at least one MR marker located at least partly in said at least one opening in the MR coil body; and—at least one optical marker located above the reverse surface of the MR coil body.

First claim

1 . A magnetic resonance (MR) coil unit ( 1 ), comprising:
an MR coil body which houses at least one MR coil, the MR coil body having a front surface for facing a patient, a reverse surface opposite to the front surface, and at least one opening through the MR coil body connecting the front and reverse surfaces; at least one MR marker located at least partly in said at least one opening in the MR coil body; and at least one optical marker located above the reverse surface of the MR coil body.

2 . The MR coil unit according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one MR marker does not protrude over the front surface of the MR coil body.

3 . The MR coil unit according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one MR marker is completely located in the at least one opening.

4 . The MR coil unit according to claim 1 , comprising a plurality of MR markers in a known spatial relationship.

5 . The MR coil unit according to claim 1 , comprising a plurality of optical markers in a known spatial relationship.

6 . The MR coil unit according to claim 1 , wherein the optical and MR markers are fixed to a common holding bracket.

7 . The MR coil unit according to claim 1 , wherein an MR marker comprises a fill opening pointing towards the reverse surface of the MR coil body.

8 . The MR coil unit according to claim 1 , wherein the thickness of the MR coil body in a direction between its front and reverse surfaces is basically identical to the thickness of the MR markers in this direction.

9 . A magnetic resonance (MR) unit, comprising:
an MR coil unit according to claim 1 ; a patient support for accommodating a patient; and an MR holder holding the MR coil unit such that the front surface of the MR coil body faces the patient support.

10 . The MR unit according to claim 9 , further comprising a medical navigation system including a camera for detecting the optical markers, wherein the camera is aligned such that the optical markers are within the camera's field of view.

11 . The MR unit according to claim 9 , wherein the MR holder is directly connected to the patient support.

12 . A method for manufacturing a magnetic resonance (MR) coil unit, comprising the steps of:
providing an MR coil body housing at least one MR coil, the MR coil body having a front surface for facing a patient, a reverse surface opposite to the front surface, and at least one opening through the MR coil body connecting the front and reverse surfaces; placing at least one MR marker at least partly in said at least one opening in the MR coil body; and placing at least one optical marker above the reverse surface of the MR coil body.

13 . The method according to claim 12 , wherein the at least one MR marker is placed in the at least one opening such that it does not protrude over the front surface of the MR coil body.

14 . The method according to claim 12 or 13 , wherein the optical and MR markers are fixed to a common holding bracket, and the holding bracket is attached to the MR coil body such that the MR marker(s) is/are located at least partly in said at least one opening in the MR coil body and the optical marker(s) is/are located above the reverse surface of the MR coil body.

15 . (canceled)

Assignees

• Brainlab Ag
• Pro Med Instruments Gmbh
• Siemens Ag

Inventors

• Gross Patrick
• Niederführ Tilman
• Vasey Brian
• Heindl Nadja
• Sapnaras Dimitrios

Classifications

• A61B5/0555

  Human Necessities · mapped topic

• G01R33/3415 Primary

  comprising arrays of sub-coils {, i.e. phased-array coils with flexible receiver channels} · CPC title

• A61B2090/3937

  Visible markers · CPC title

• G01R33/4808

  Multimodal MR, e.g. MR combined with positron emission tomography [PET], MR combined with ultrasound or MR combined with computed tomography [CT] · CPC title

• A61B2034/2055

  Optical tracking systems · CPC title