System and method for magnetic resonance coil arrangement

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9612303-B2
Application number	US-201414774435-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 14, 2014
Priority date	Mar 15, 2013
Publication date	Apr 4, 2017
Grant date	Apr 4, 2017

Abstract

A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system is provided. The system includes a main field magnet generating a main magnetic field B 0 . Moreover, the system further includes radio frequency (RF) receiver coils including a first combination of two coils, the two coils of the first combination decoupled based on quadrature decoupling such that the two coils of the first combination are able to receive signals orthogonal to each other and to B 0 . The two coils can be butterfly coils, the loop-plain of the butterfly coils arranged along a surface, the longitudinal axis of the butterfly coils being substantially orthogonal and crossing at substantially midpoint. The surface can be substantially orthogonal to B 0 and be curved. The first of the two coils can also be a loop coil and the second of the two coils a butterfly coil.

First claim

We claim:

1. A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system comprising:
a main field magnet generating a main magnetic field B 0 ; and
a receiver cage having
radio frequency (RF) receiver coils including at least one combination of two coils, the two coils of the at least one combination decoupled based on quadrature decoupling such that the two coils of the at least one combination are able to receive signals orthogonal to each other and to B 0 ;
a substrate for supporting the RF receiver coils;
wherein the receiver cage is in the shape of a head gear having top, front, right, left and back surfaces, said at least one combination of two coils being supported by the top surface; and
wherein the at least one combination of two coils includes two butterfly coils, the loop-plane of the butterfly coils arranged along the top surface of the receiver cage substantially orthogonal to B 0 , the longitudinal axis of the butterfly coils being substantially orthogonal and crossing at substantially midpoint.

2. The MRI system of claim 1 comprising a further combination of two coils wherein a first of the two coils of the further combination is a loop coil and the second of the two coils of the further combination is a butterfly coil, the loop plane of the coils being arranged along a further surface with the loop coil being positioned to have its center align with the center of the butterfly coil.

3. The MRI system of claim 2 wherein the at least one combination of two coils and the further combination of two coils are decoupled using at least one of: capacitive decoupling, inductive decoupling, geometric decoupling and digital decoupling.

4. The MRI system of claim 2 wherein one axis of the further surface is substantially orthogonal to B 0 .

5. The MRI system of claim 4 , wherein the longitudinal axis of the butterfly coil is substantially orthogonal to B 0 .

6. The MRI system of claim 1 wherein the further surface is curved.

7. A receiver cage for use in a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system having a main field B 0 , comprising:
radio frequency (RF) receiver coils including at least one combination of two coils, the two coils of the at least one combination decoupled based on quadrature decoupling such that the two coils of the at least one combination are able to receive signals orthogonal to each other and to B 0 ;
a substrate for supporting the RF receiver coils;
wherein the receiver cage is in the shape of a head gear having top, front, right, left and back surfaces, said at least one combination of two coils being supported by the top surface; and

wherein the at least one combination of two coils includes two butterfly coils, the loop-plane of the butterfly coils arranged along the top surface of the receiver cage substantially orthogonal to B 0 , the longitudinal axis of the butterfly coils being substantially orthogonal and crossing at substantially midpoint.

8. The receiver cage of claim 7 wherein the substrate is one of flexible or rigid.

9. The receiver cage of claim 7 wherein the substrate is rigid.

10. The receiver cage of claim 7 wherein at least one further combination of two coils includes a loop coil and a butterfly coil, the loop plain of the coils being arranged along a surface with the loop coil being positioned to have its center align with the center of the butterfly coil.

11. The receiver cage of claim 7 wherein the head gear is a helmet and the surfaces are curved in accordance with the topology of the corresponding surfaces of a human head.

12. The receiver cage of claim 7 wherein at least some of the RF receiver coils are decoupled using at least one of: capacitive decoupling, inductive decoupling, geometric decoupling and digital decoupling.

Assignees

• Piron Cameron Anthony
• Panther Alexander Gyles
• Synaptive Medical Barbados Inc

Inventors

• Piron Cameron Anthony
• Panther Alexander Gyles

Classifications

• G01R33/365

  Decoupling of multiple RF coils wherein the multiple RF coils have the same function in MR, e.g. decoupling of a receive coil from another receive coil in a receive coil array, decoupling of a transmission coil from another transmission coil in a transmission coil array · CPC title

• G01R33/385

  using gradient magnetic field coils · CPC title

• 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

• G01R33/565 Primary

  Correction of image distortions, e.g. due to magnetic field inhomogeneities · CPC title

• G01R33/341

  comprising surface coils · CPC title