| Patent application number | Description | Published |
|---|
| 20090177075 | Resolution enhanced T1-insensitive steady state imaging (RE-TOSSI) - Systems, methods, and other embodiments associated with RE-TOSSI are described. One system embodiment includes an MRI apparatus configured to produce a RE-TOSSI pulse sequence and to acquire T2-weighted images in response to the RE-TOSSI pulse sequence. An example RE-TOSSI pulse sequence includes a TOSSI portion and a non-inverting, non-TOSSI portion. | 07-09-2009 |
| 20090261827 | MITIGATING SATURATION ARTIFACTS ASSOCIATED WITH INTERSECTING PLANE TRUEFISP ACQUISITIONS THROUGH GROUPED REVERSE CENTRIC PHASE ENCODING - Systems methods, and other embodiments associated with acquiring intersecting TrueFISP images using grouped reverse centric phase encoding are described. One example method includes controlling an MRI apparatus to produce a TrueFISP sequence that delays acquisition of the center of k-space to reduce saturation banding artifacts. The example method also includes controlling the MRI apparatus to produce a TrueFISP sequence that reduces eddy current artifacts by grouping (e.g., pairing) lines in k-space. The method concludes by acquiring NMR signal in response to the TrueFISP sequence. | 10-22-2009 |
| 20090264730 | MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING (MRI) GUIDED ABLATION - Systems, methods, and other embodiments associated with tracking an ablative device and monitoring an ablation produced by the ablative device are described. One example method includes acquiring a magnetic resonance (MR) image of an ablative device inserted in a body and selectively controlling positioning of the ablative device based, at least in part on the MR image. The MR image may be continuously provided in real-time by an interventional MR imaging apparatus programmed to image using a tri-orthogonal plane sequence. The method may also include acquiring an MR image of an ablation performed by the ablative device, and selectively controlling the ablative device based, at least in part, on the MR image. The MR image may also be provided by the IMRI apparatus operating according to a tri-orthogonal plane sequence. In one example, the ablation may treat hypopharyngeal obstructive sleep apnea by reducing tongue base volume. | 10-22-2009 |
| 20100063380 | Steady state dark blood magnetic resonance imaging - Systems, methods, and other embodiments associated with steady state dark blood magnetic resonance imaging MRI are described. One example method includes controlling an MRI apparatus to produce a steady state pulse sequence. The example method may also include controlling the MRI apparatus to generate radio frequency (RF) energy and magnetic gradients associated with the steady state pulse sequence. The steady state pulse sequence is different from conventional steady state pulses in that it is characterized by regularly spaced slice selection excitation pulses to excite a region to be imaged in an object to be imaged using a consistent repetition time (TR), a set of readout modules, and a set of a magnetization preparation modules. A magnetization preparation module is characterized by gradients associated with imaging not being active, gradients associated with slice selection being active, and RF pulses associated with slice selection being active. | 03-11-2010 |
