Patents by Inventor Patrick L. Le Roux

Patrick L. Le Roux has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Non-CPMG fast spin echo MRI method
    Patent number: 6265873
    Abstract: In an MRI system a fast spin echo pulse sequence is employed to acquire data for producing an image. The phase of successive RF refocusing pulses in the sequence is shifted by a sweep factor and an odd echo signal and an even echo signal is acquired for each view. Two k-space data sets are formed, one by summing the even and odd echo signal pairs and the other by subtracting the echo signal pairs. Two magnitude images are reconstructed from the respective k-space data sets and an output image is formed by combining these two images.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 17, 1999
    Date of Patent: July 24, 2001
    Assignee: GE Medical Systems Global Technology Company, LLC
    Inventor: Patrick L. Le Roux
  • Magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging having reduced chemical shift error
    Patent number: 6137290
    Abstract: Chemical shift error in proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy is reduced by applying a volume excitation pulse sequence such as PRESS and very selective out-of-volume saturation pulses to limit that volume to a volume-of-interest free of the misregistration errors associated with the excitation sequence. The resulting volume is then only limited by the very small chemical shift misregistration of the very selective saturation pulses.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 19, 1998
    Date of Patent: October 24, 2000
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Ralph E. Hurd, Napapon Sailasuta, James Tropp, Patrick L. Le Roux
  • Virtual frequency encoding of acquired NMR image data
    Patent number: 5537039
    Abstract: Slabs are selected using a combination of a slab select gradient and selective RF excitation pulses to acquire 3D NMR data. Thinner 2D slices are selected within each slab by employing virtual frequency encoding of the acquired NMR signals. This encoding is achieved by stepping the value of the gradient in the slab select direction and concurrently changing the time interval between RF excitation and acquisition of the resulting NMR echo signal. A gradient recalled echo pulse sequence and a fast spin echo pulse sequence are described.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 10, 1995
    Date of Patent: July 16, 1996
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Patrick L. Le Roux, Yi Sun
  • Stabilized fast spin echo NMR pulse sequence
    Patent number: 5315249
    Abstract: A fast spin echo NMR pulse sequence is modified to stabilize the magnitude of early NMR echo signals produced during each shot. Stabilization is accomplished by modifying the amplitude of the nutation angle produced in the spins by the corresponding RF refocusing pulses. When selective RF refocusing pulses are employed the slice is divided into subslices and the modifications are made separately to each subslice.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 28, 1992
    Date of Patent: May 24, 1994
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Patrick L. Le Roux, Richard S. Hinks
  • Fast NMR image acquisition with spectrally selective inversion pulses
    Patent number: 5256967
    Abstract: An NMR system performs a 2DFT or 3DFT scan using a set of steady-state free precession (SSFP) pulse sequences. A contrast preparation pulse sequence precedes each series of SSFP pulse sequences and it includes a spectrally selective RF inversion pulse timed to water to provide T.sub.1 contrast between tissues having relatively long T.sub.1 times, followed by a spectrally selective RF inversion pulse tuned to suppress the signals from fat.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 1, 1992
    Date of Patent: October 26, 1993
    Assignee: General Electric Company
    Inventors: Thomas K. Foo, Patrick L. Le Roux
  • NMR pulse sequence with burst RF excitation pulses having separately controlled phase
    Patent number: 5212448
    Abstract: An NMR system acquires data for producing an image using a spin-warp burst excitation pulse sequence. RF phase and flip-angle of each RF excitation pulse in the burst is separately controlled to maximize the SNR of the corresponding set of acquired NMR echo signals. The phase and amplitude of each acquired NMR echo signal is adjusted by an amount determined by its corresponding excitation pulse before being used for image reconstruction.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 9, 1991
    Date of Patent: May 18, 1993
    Assignees: General Electric Company, The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University
    Inventors: Patrick L. Le Roux, John M. Pauly