Abstract: A technique for improving accuracy of temperature measurement in a living body using MRS/MRSI is provided. A cerebrospinal fluid suppression sequence that does not affect nuclear magnetic resonance signals of metabolite, but suppresses nuclear magnetic resonance signals of cerebrospinal fluid is executed in advance of execution of a signal measurement sequence for measuring nuclear magnetic resonance signals of water and a desired metabolite. There are thereby obtained spectra of water and the metabolite obtained from the nuclear magnetic resonance signals of water and the metabolite in which nuclear magnetic resonance signals of cerebrospinal fluid is suppressed. The obtained spectral peaks are fitted to a model function to obtain resonant frequencies of water and the metabolite, and the difference thereof is used to calculate temperature.

Abstract: There is provided a technique for securing a large examination space in a tunnel type MRI device without inviting increase of manufacturing cost and without significantly reducing irradiation efficiency or uniformity of the irradiation intensity distribution in an imaging region. Between rungs of a partially cylindrical RF coil, which coil corresponds to a cylindrical RF coil of which part is removed, there are disposed half-loops generating magnetic fields, which are synthesized with magnetic fields generated by loops constituted by adjacent rungs of the partially cylindrical RF coil and rings connecting the rungs to generate a circularly polarized or elliptically polarized magnetic field. Further, high-frequency signals of the same reference frequency having a desired amplitude ratio and phase difference are supplied to the partially cylindrical RF coils and half-loops.

Abstract: Image processing techniques which enable various contrast control, by quantitatively handling a degree of phase enhancement in a contrast control as a post-processing of the image reconstruction. A complex operation is performed on each pixel value of a complex image obtained by an MRI, thereby generating an image with desired contrast. Intensity is controlled by increasing or decreasing the argument of the pixel value of each pixel by a constant amount, and the degree of phase enhancement is controlled by multiplying the phase (argument) of each pixel by a constant.

Abstract: The estimation accuracy of a magnetic susceptibility value of tissue is improved by computing an edge image which represents the edge of the tissue on a magnetic susceptibility distribution and to reduce background noise without lowering the magnetic susceptibility value of the tissue. The present invention computes an absolute value image and a phase image from a complex image obtained by MRI, from the phase image, computes a low frequency region magnetic susceptibility image in which background noise is greater than a desired value, computes an edge information magnetic susceptibility image and computes a high frequency region magnetic susceptibility image, computes an edge mask from the edge information magnetic susceptibility image, smooths a magic angle region from the edge mask and the low frequency region magnetic susceptibility image and finally smooths a high frequency region using the high frequency region magnetic susceptibility image.

Abstract: B1 distribution is calculated in a short time with a high degree of precision, and a high quality image is obtained. In the RF shimming for irradiating electromagnetic waves using an RF coil having multiple channels, the absolute values of subtraction images between multiple reconstructed images are used to calculate a transmitting sensitivity distribution which is necessary for calculating inter-channel phase difference and amplitude ratio of RF pulses provided to the respective channels. Those multiple reconstructed images are obtained by executing the imaging sequence after applying a prepulse at different flip angles respectively. Assuming an image obtained with a minimum flip angle as a reference image, for instance, the subtraction images are created between the reference image and the other respective images. It is also possible that multiple subtraction images being obtained are divided by one another, and the transmitting sensitivity distribution is created on the basis of the division result.

Abstract: There is provided a technique for securing a comfortable examination space in a tunnel type MRI apparatus without increasing the manufacturing cost of the MRI apparatus and sacrificing performance thereof. In an RF coil provided with a hollow-shaped outer conductive element and a strip-shaped conductive element disposed along the outer conductive element in the axial direction, meander lines constituting the strip-shaped conductive element are disposed at uneven distances from the outer conductive element to secure an internal space. In order to obtain uniform sensitivity at the center of the RF coil, the strip-shaped conductive element is constituted with N of connected meander lines, and length of the strip-shaped conductive element is adjusted so that, in the strip-shaped conductive element resonating at resonance frequency of the antenna, nodes are formed in a number of (M+1)×N?1, wherein M is 0 or a natural number of 1 or larger.

Abstract: There is provided a technique for improving quality of images obtained with an MRI apparatus by using the geometric structures of the conventional RF transmission coil and RF reception coil and without increasing burden on patients or MRI technicians. A conductor loop of an RF reception coil disposed between a subject and an RF transmission coil is used also as a loop for magnetic field adjustment in order to shield or enhance a rotating magnetic field B1 generated by the RF transmission coil. Further, the conductor loop operated as a conductor loop for magnetic field adjustment among the conductor loops constituting the RF reception coil is driven so that inhomogeneity of the rotating magnetic field B1 is reduced.

Abstract: There is provided a technique for obtaining a magnetic susceptibility-weighted image in which contrast difference of a tissue of interest and a surrounding tissue can be emphasized regardless of the positional relationship of the B0 direction and the imaging slice. A phase image is converted into a susceptibility map not depending on the B0 direction, and then a weighting image used for weighting is generated by using the susceptibility map. The weighting image to be generated is for emphasizing contrast of a tissue of interest and a surrounding tissue depending on the purpose. Then, by multiplication of the weighting image and an absolute image, a magnetic susceptibility-weighted image in which the magnetic susceptibility difference is emphasized depending on the purpose is obtained.

Abstract: With an MRI apparatus using a transmission coil having multiple channels, a region desired to be diagnosed is efficiently imaged with high image quality. The MRI apparatus comprises a region setting means for setting a region in an imaging region, of which high quality image is desired to be obtained, as a first region, and an optimization means for determining at least one of amplitude and phase of a radio frequency wave transmitted to each of the multiple channels as a radio frequency magnetic field condition, and the optimization means determines the radio frequency magnetic field condition so that at least one of specific absorption ratio and signal value of a region that generates artifacts is not higher than a predetermined value defined for each, under a uniformity constraint condition that uniformity of radio frequency magnetic field distribution in the first region is not lower than a predetermined value.

Abstract: In the diffusion spectroscopic imaging, in which intensity of molecular diffusion is imaged with separating chemical substances, with suppressing artifacts resulting from object motion of an object, spatial resolution, spectral band and SNR are maintained, and measurement accuracy is enhanced. A measurement for acquiring diffusion SI data is repeated a plurality of times with changing acquisition timing, phase variation of each measurement result is corrected, and a diffusion SI image is reconstructed from the corrected measurement results. In addition, the phase variation is calculated for every point in the space from the diffusion SI data acquired by each measurement or navigation data obtained by each measurement. The phase correction is independently performed for every point in the space.

Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide a measuring technique which allows in the MRS measurement to suppress with a high degree of precision, incorporation of a signal of unwanted compounds which hinders measurement of a measurement object signal, independent of an imaging object region and the measurement object signal, thereby obtaining a stable and favorable signal spectrum. In the MRS measuring sequence, a spectrum selective inversion RF pulse, having a narrow band characteristic for selectively inverting only a signal peak of a compounds to be suppressed, and phase dispersion-refocusing GC pulses are applied at least one of before and after a region selective RF pulse. This MRS measuring sequence is repeated while changing the echo time TE at predetermined intervals, and nuclear magnetic resonance signals being obtained by the repetition are integrated. The amount of the spectrum selective inversion RF pulse to be applied may be changed according to the echo time TE.

Abstract: A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus comprising a measurement parameter-setting unit for setting measurement parameters that determine the strength and timing of the high frequency magnetic field and the gradient magnetic field, and a measuring unit for applying the high frequency magnetic field and the gradient magnetic field on a subject placed in the static magnetic field according to the measurement parameters and detecting the nuclear magnetic resonance signal generated from the subject as a complex signal. The measurement parameter-setting unit is equipped with: a basic parameter-inputting section for setting the imaging parameters and imaging cross-section; a limiting condition-inputting section for setting limiting conditions that apply limits on the setting of the voxel size; a voxel size-calculating section for setting the voxel size according to the limiting conditions; and a voxel size-displaying section for displaying the set voxel size to the user.

Abstract: Disclosed is a magnetic resonance imaging apparatus that calculates a susceptibility map using a weighting image that reflects a phase variation with high accuracy. The weighting image is calculated from a phase image obtained from a complex image obtained by MRI. First, a region used in calculation of the phase variation is set as a calculation region, and then, a standard deviation or a variance of pixel values of the phase image in the calculation region is set as the phase variation. Further, the phase variation is converted into a weight that monotonically decreases in a broad sense as the phase variation increases to obtain the weighting image.

Abstract: Manufacture cost and maintenance cost of RF coils of MRI devices are reduced without any limitation concerning size of the coils. By constituting an antenna device for magnetic resonance imaging devices with a cylindrical outer conductor, a looped ribbon-shaped conductor disposed inside the cylindrical outer conductor along the cylindrical surface, and a feed point for transmission and/or reception between the cylindrical conductor and the ribbon-shaped conductor, and disposing the ribbon-shaped conductor so that length thereof can be readily adjusted, there is provided an antenna device for magnetic resonance imaging devices that generates a magnetic field component perpendicular to the central axis of the cylinder at a desired resonance frequency and shows sensitivity without using capacitors and without being imposed any limitation concerning size in the diametral direction of the cylinder.

Abstract: The present invention provides a technique for obtaining a high-quality image at high speed in DKI analysis. In the DKI analysis, upon estimating a parameter relating to diffusion in an application direction of an MPG pulse, a least square fitting is separated from a constraint processing, and only a value of the pixel that does not meet the constraint condition in the least square fitting is targeted for the correction. Then, with regard to this pixel, a diffusion-related parameter is re-estimated using the pixel value after the correction, and a parameter image is generated by using the diffusion-related parameter thus obtained.

Abstract: There is provided a technique for obtaining temperature information for inside of a living body and accuracy information thereof in short time with low burden imposed on a subject. It is realized with a spectrum calculator configured to perform MRS or MRSI measurement for two kinds of substances showing difference of resonant frequencies and calculating spectra of magnetic resonance signals of the two kinds of substances, a temperature information calculator configured to calculate temperature information for inside of the subject on the basis of peaks of the calculated spectra, a temperature accuracy information calculator configured to calculate temperature accuracy information indicating accuracy of the temperature information on the basis of peaks of the calculated spectra, and a display information generator configured to generate display information to be displayed on a display device on the basis of the temperature information and the temperature accuracy information.

Abstract: An object of the present invention is to suppress artifacts generated by correction of spectral distortion induced by eddy currents in MRI devices with a simple method, and thereby improve accuracy of the correction. In the eddy current correction processing for correcting spectral distortion caused by an eddy current using phase values of FID signals of a substance showing higher signal intensities compared with a metabolite as an object of measurement, phase jumps of the phase values used for the correction are corrected beforehand. In the correction of the phase jumps, small phase change amount points are identified by using primary time differential values of the phase values, and the other points are identified as a phase jump generation region. Then, the primary time differential values corresponding to the identified phase jump generation regions are excluded.

Abstract: With minimizing extension of imaging time, the B1 non-uniformity reducing effect of RF shimming is maximized for an imaging section of an arbitrary axis direction and an arbitrary position. B1 distributions are measured for only several sections of one predetermined direction, and a radio frequency magnetic field condition that maximizes the B1 non-uniformity reducing effect for an imaging section of an arbitrary direction and an arbitrary position is calculated from the B1 distribution data.

Abstract: The present invention provides a technique for maintaining a function for effectively blocking common mode noise with a simple configuration, even in the case where unbalance occurs in characteristic impedance of a coaxial cable in an MRI apparatus, and improving the performance of an RF coil. In a circuit where a balun is established by parallel connection with the coaxial cable, multiple serial resonance circuits having different resonance frequencies are connected in parallel. A value of each constitutional element of each of the serial resonance circuits is adjusted in such a manner that the frequency for blocking the common mode noise of the entire balun falls into a range between the resonance frequencies of these serial resonance circuits.

Abstract: There is provided a technique for obtaining a magnetic susceptibility-weighted image in which contrast difference of a tissue of interest and a surrounding tissue can be emphasized regardless of the positional relationship of the B0 direction and the imaging slice. A phase image is converted into a susceptibility map not depending on the B0 direction, and then a weighting image used for weighting is generated by using the susceptibility map. The weighting image to be generated is for emphasizing contrast of a tissue of interest and a surrounding tissue depending on the purpose. Then, by multiplication of the weighting image and an absolute image, a magnetic susceptibility-weighted image in which the magnetic susceptibility difference is emphasized depending on the purpose is obtained.