Systems and methods for localized pseudo-continuous ASL (pCASL) of arterial blood local multi-coil arrays in an MRI system allow a series of pulses to selectively label blood with an on-resonance magnetic field in one or more arteries in a labeling plane while masking blood in others with an off-resonance magnetic field. This allows perfusion imaging and is well suited for imaging of cerebral blood flow.

A cardiac state system, comprising a processing unit (4) configured to receive input signals (6) including parameters from, or related to, one or many registration points or areas within or outside a heart (8), and a storage unit (10) where one or many search tools are stored. The processing unit (4) is configured to process the input signals (6), by applying said search tools, to identify point of interests (POI), being landmarks, patterns and/or group patterns. The processing unit (4) is further configured to search for and identify global and/or regional event markers among said POIs to evaluate hydro-mechanical and/or hydro-dynamic functions of the heart. Preferably, at least some of said identified event markers are associated to the AV-piston defined according to the dynamic adaptive piston pump (DAPP) technology.

A processor analyzes an image obtained by imaging a subject including a tubular structure in which a fluid flows, thereby deriving fluid information regarding flow of the fluid at each of pixel positions in the tubular structure. The processor sets a sampling interval for displaying the fluid information in accordance with a size of a region intersecting a center line of the tubular structure included in the image. The processor samples the fluid information at the set sampling interval and causes a display to display the fluid information.

Devices and methods are provided for analyzing images from a magnetic resonance (MR) system. The device includes at least one hardware processor coupled with a storage system accessible to the at least one hardware processor. The device further includes a display in communication with the at least one hardware processor. The device receives a plurality of non-contrast MR images in a region of interest (ROI). The device obtains blood flow signals from the plurality of non-contrast MR images. The device identifies an abnormal segment by analyzing the blood flow signals. The device displays the non-contrast MR images by a highlighted segment in at least one of the non-contrast MR images to indicate the abnormal segment on the display.

In a method and magnetic resonance apparatus to acquire diagnostic image data of a contrast agent-filled target area of a patient, a peak time of the test bolus in the target area is automatically determined, from which a wait period is then determined for administering the main bolus. After the main bolus has been administered to the patient, magnetic resonance images of the target area are acquired, and each is analyzed immediately after acquisition thereof to determine whether that image shows arrival of the contrast agent. If and when one of these images shows such arrival, an acquisition protocol is immediately started in order to acquire the diagnostic image data set. If none of these images shows arrival of the contrast agent, the protocol to acquire diagnostic image data is started after the wait period.

A method for vascular modeling is disclosed. The method, in some embodiments, comprises receiving a plurality of 2-D angiographic images of a portion of a vasculature of a subject, and processing the images to automatically detect 2-D features, for example, paths along vascular extents, which are projected into 3-D to determine homologous features among blood vessels. In some embodiments, projection and/or image registration is iteratively altered to improve feature position matching. Based on 3-D vascular extents and their registration to 2-D images, additional features such as vascular width are optionally determined and added to the model.

This device for constructing a blood-vessel-shape model in order to perform blood-flow analysis using computational fluid dynamics is provided with: an input unit which inputs a medical image; a shape-model generation unit which constructs, based on the medical image, a blood-vessel-shape model; a shape-model-quality evaluation unit which evaluates the shape reproduction degree of the constructed blood-vessel-shape model to determine the quality of the blood-vessel-shape model; and an output unit which outputs the determination result and the constructed blood-vessel-shape model.

Disclosed herein is a device defining a generally closed volume therein, henceforth known as a “shuttle”, not permanently fixed to a probe or other surface inside the cryostat, into which gas and/or liquid—most preferably helium gas or liquid—can pass into or out of in a controlled and predictable manner. The passage of gas or liquid into the shuttle is preferably via a porous barrier so that sterile conditions can be maintained in the interior of the shuttle.

A magnetic resonance imaging system may include a magnet, gradient coils, an RF pulse transmitter, an RF receiver that receives MR signals from tissue that has been exposed to RF pulses, gradient fields, and a magnetic field, and a computer that includes a processor. The computer may have a configuration that: causes the RF pulse transmitter and gradient coils to emit multiple labeling pulses at predetermined labeling times directed to blood in a subject; causes the RF pulse transmitter, gradient coils, and magnet to generate MR signals directed to tissue at one or more spatial locations within the subject that receives the blood; causes the RF receiver to receive MR signals emitted by the tissue at predetermined imaging times; generates an image of the tissue based on the received MR signals; repeats the foregoing four actions one or more times; and generates information indicative of perfusion within the tissue based on the generated images.

Arterial spin labelling (ASL) MRI offers a non-invasive means to create blood-borne contrast in vivo for dynamic angiographic imaging. By spatial modulation of the ASL process it is possible to uniquely label individual arteries over a series of measurements, allowing each to be separately identified in the resulting images. This separation requires appropriate analysis for which a general framework has previously been proposed. Here the general framework is modified for fast analysis of non-invasive imaging of blood flow using vessel encoded arterial spin labelling (VE-ASL). This specifically addresses the issues of computational speed of the analysis and the robustness required to deal with real patient data. The modification applies various approaches for estimation of one or more parameters that change the way a vessel, for example an artery, is encoded to provide the fast analysis.