Coil arrangement for use in a magnetic resonance imaging system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9977100-B2
Application number	US-201013262145-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 30, 2010
Priority date	Mar 31, 2009
Publication date	May 22, 2018
Grant date	May 22, 2018

Abstract

A coil arrangement for use in a magnetic resonance imaging system, the imaging system being for generating a magnetic imaging field in an imaging region, the coil arrangement including at least three coils for at least one of transmitting, receiving or transceiving an electromagnetic field, each coil being provided on a coil geometry and being substantially orthogonal.

First claim

The claims defining the invention are as follows:

1. A coil arrangement for use in a magnetic resonance imaging system, the imaging system being for generating a magnetic imaging field in an imaging region, the coil arrangement including three coils for at least one of transmitting, receiving, or transceiving an electromagnetic field, each coil being provided on a cylindrical coil geometry and being mutually orthogonal, wherein each coil is aligned with a respective one of three orthogonal planes to thereby reduce mutual coupling between the coils, and wherein the coil arrangement includes a coil support for supporting the coils, the coil support having a cylindrical surface shape corresponding to the coil geometry and wherein the coil arrangement does not include additional coils overlapping with the mutually orthogonal coils.

2. A coil arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the coil geometry is determined depending on the imaging to be performed.

3. A coil arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the coil geometry conforms to a shape of at least a part of a subject to be imaged.

4. A coil arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the coil geometry is rotationally symmetric about a coil geometry axis.

5. A coil arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the coils are elliptical.

6. A coil arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the coils are provided circumferentially spaced around a coil geometry axis.

7. A coil arrangement according to claim 6 , wherein the coils are azimuthally spaced by 120°.

8. A coil arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the coils are aligned at an angle to a coil geometry axis.

9. A coil arrangement according to claim 8 , wherein the coils are aligned at an angle of approximately 35° to the coil geometry axis.

10. A coil arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein each coil being provided at an intersection between the coil geometry and the orthogonal planes.

11. A coil arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the coil arrangement includes a mutual decoupling means for mutually decoupling the coils.

12. A coil arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein, in use, the coils are aligned at an angle offset to an imaging field direction.

13. A coil arrangement according to claim 12 , wherein, in use, the coils are provided at an angle of approximately 54.7° to an imaging field direction.

14. A coil arrangement according to claim 1 , wherein the coil arrangement is for use in imaging by modulating/encoding a transmitted or received electromagnetic field.

15. A coil arrangement for use in a magnetic resonance imaging system, the imaging system being for generating a magnetic imaging field in an imaging region, the coil arrangement including:
a) a coil support that has a cylindrical surface shape corresponding to a coil geometry; and,
b) three coils for at least one of transmitting, receiving or transceiving an electromagnetic field, the coils being supported by the coil support and being mutually orthogonal, wherein each coil is aligned with a respective one of three orthogonal planes, to thereby reduce mutual coupling between the coils, and
wherein the coil arrangement does not include additional coils overlapping with the mutually orthogonal coils.

16. A method of determining a coil arrangement for use in a magnetic resonance imaging system, the imaging system being for generating a magnetic imaging field in an imaging region, the method including:
a) determining a coil geometry wherein the coil arrangement includes a coil support for supporting coils, the coil support having a cylindrical surface shape corresponding to the coil geometry;
b) arranging three orthogonal planes so that each of the planes intersects the coil geometry; and
c) determining a coil arrangement for each of three coils in accordance with an intersection of a respective plane with the coil geometry so that the three coils are mutually orthogonal to thereby reduce mutual coupling between the coils and so that the coil arrangement does not include additional coils overlapping with the mutually orthogonal coils.

17. A method according to claim 16 , wherein the method includes determining the coil geometry in accordance with a shape of at least a part of a subject to be imaged.

18. A method according to claim 17 , wherein the coil geometry conforms to the shape of at least a part of a subject to be imaged.

19. A method according to claim 16 , wherein the coil geometry is rotationally symmetric about a coil geometry axis.

20. A method according to claim 16 , wherein the method includes arranging the planes so that coils are elliptical.

21. A method according to claim 16 , wherein the method includes arranging the planes so that coils are circumferentially spaced around a coil geometry axis.

22. A method according to claim 21 , wherein the method includes arranging the planes so that the coils are azimuthally spaced by 120°.

23. A method according to claim 16 , wherein the method includes arranging the planes at an angle to a coil geometry axis.

24. A method according to claim 23 , wherein the planes are arranged at an angle of approximately 35.3° to the coil geometry axis.

Assignees

• Crozier Stuart
• Trakic Adnan
• Weber Ewald
• Li Bing Keong
• Wang Hua
• Univ Queensland

Inventors

• Crozier Stuart
• Trakic Adnan
• Weber Ewald
• Li Bing Keong
• Wang Hua

Classifications

• A61B5/055

  involving electronic [EMR] or nuclear [NMR] magnetic resonance, e.g. magnetic resonance imaging · CPC title

• G01R33/3415 Primary

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

• A61B5/4528

  Joints (A61B5/4533, A61B5/4538 take precedence) · CPC title

• A61B5/4533

  Ligaments · CPC title

• 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