SYSTEM FOR AUTOMATICALLY CONTROLLING CHEMICAL SHIFT DIRECTION

Abstract

The disclosure relates to techniques for saturation band MRI scanning. The techniques include obtaining the position of a saturation band of the saturation band MRI, obtaining the position of the region of interest to be imaged, taking the direction from the saturation band to the region of interest as a first direction, determining the direction of the slice selection gradient, and starting saturation band MRI scanning.

Claims

1. A method for saturation band magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanning, comprising: obtaining, via one or more processors, a position of a saturation band associated with an MRI scan; obtaining, via one or more processors, a position of a region of interest (ROI) to be image, a direction from the saturation band to the ROI being identified with a first direction; determining, via one or more processors, a direction of a slice selection gradient; and performing, via one or more processors, saturation band MRI scanning, wherein a slice selection gradient is applied on the saturation band in the direction of the determined slice selection gradient such that: when the direction of the slice selection gradient is the same as the first direction, the gradient sign of the applied slice selection gradient is positive and an intensity of a corresponding magnetic field gradually increases; and when the direction of the slice selection gradient is opposite to the first direction, the gradient sign of the applied slice selection gradient is negative and an intensity of a corresponding magnetic field gradually decreases.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein: the act of obtaining the position of the saturation band comprises determining a central point of the saturation band, the act of obtaining the position of the ROI to be imaged comprises determining the central point of a field of view (FOV) of imaging, and the direction from the central point of the saturation band to the central point of the FOV is identified with the first direction.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: concurrent with applying the slice selection gradient on the saturation band in the direction of the slice selection gradient, applying a radio frequency saturation pulse on a slice selected by the slice selection gradient.

4. A device for saturation band magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanning, comprising: direction determining circuitry configured to (i) obtain a position of a saturation band associated with an MRI scan, and (ii) obtain a position of a region of interest (ROI) to be imaged, a direction from the saturation band to the ROI being identified with a first direction, and (iii) determine a direction of a slice selection gradient; slice selection gradient control circuitry configured to control an application of the slice selection gradient when saturation band MRI scanning starts by: applying the slice selection gradient on the saturation band such that (i) when the direction of the slice selection gradient is the same as the first direction, the gradient sign of the applied slice selection gradient is positive and the intensity of the corresponding magnetic field gradually increases, and (ii) when the direction of the slice selection gradient is opposite to the first direction, the gradient sign of the applied slice selection gradient is negative and the intensity of the corresponding magnetic field gradually decreases.

5. The device according to claim 4, wherein the direction determining circuitry is further configured to: obtain the position of the saturation band of the saturation band by determining a central point of the saturation band; determine the position of the region of interest to be imaged by determining the central point of a field of view (FOV) of imaging, and wherein the direction from the central point of the saturation band to the central point of the FOV is identified with the first direction.

6. The device according to claim 4, wherein the device further comprises: radio frequency (RF) circuitry configured to control the application of RF saturation pulses to apply a RF saturation pulse on a slice selected by the slice selection gradient.

7. A device for saturation band magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanning, comprising: a memory having instructions stored thereon; and a processor configured to execute instructions stored in the memory to cause the device to: obtain a position of a saturation band associated with an MRI scan; obtain a position of a region of interest (ROI) to be image, a direction from the saturation band to the ROI being identified with a first direction; determine a direction of a slice selection gradient; and perform saturation band MRI scanning, wherein a slice selection gradient is applied on the saturation band in the direction of the determined slice selection gradient such that: when the direction of the slice selection gradient is the same as the first direction, the gradient sign of the applied slice selection gradient is positive and an intensity of a corresponding magnetic field gradually increases; and when the direction of the slice selection gradient is opposite to the first direction, the gradient sign of the applied slice selection gradient is negative and an intensity of a corresponding magnetic field gradually decreases.

8. The device according to claim 7, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the device to: obtain the position of the saturation band by determining a central point of the saturation band, and obtain the position of the ROI to be imaged by determining the central point of a field of view (FOV) of imaging, wherein the direction from the central point of the saturation band to the central point of the FOV is identified with the first direction.

9. The device according to claim 7, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the device to: concurrent with applying the slice selection gradient on the saturation band in the direction of the slice selection gradient, apply a radio frequency saturation pulse on a slice selected by the slice selection gradient.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS/FIGURES

[0035] The preferred embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings, so that those skilled in the art will better understand the above and other features and advantages of the present disclosure. In the drawings:

[0036] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the chemical shift between water and fat;

[0037] FIGS. 2A-2D illustrate a comparison of the chemical shift of a saturation band when the hard-coding method is used and when the hard-coding method is not used;

[0038] FIG. 3 is a flowchart of the method for saturation band MRI scanning provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0039] FIGS. 4A-4C are schematic diagrams of the relationship between the chemical shift of the suppressed region on the one hand and the gradient sign and the intensity of the magnetic field on the other hand provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0040] FIGS. 5A-5D are schematic diagrams of the setup of the slice selection gradient provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0041] FIGS. 6A-6C illustrate a comparison of simulated saturation band MRI experiments by the existing hard-coding method and by the embodiments of the present disclosure, when a saturation band exists only on one side of the FOV center;

[0042] FIGS. 7A-7D illustrate a comparison of simulated saturation band MRI experiments by a conventional hard-coding method and by using the embodiments of the present disclosure, when saturation bands exist on both sides of the FOV center;

[0043] FIGS. 8A-8D illustrate a comparison of the imaging results of in vivo experiments with an MRI spectral system by a conventional hard-coding method and by using the embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0044] FIG. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of the device for saturation band MRI scanning provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0045] FIG. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of a device for saturation band MRI scanning provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0046] In the drawings, the following reference numerals are used:

TABLE-US-00001 Numeral Meaning 301-303 Steps 90 Device for saturation band MRI scanning 91 Direction determining module 92 Module for controlling the application of the slice selection gradient 100 Device for saturation band MRI scanning 101 Memory 102 Processor

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0047] The following example embodiments will further illustrate the present disclosure in detail in order to clarify its purpose, technical solution and advantages.

[0048] FIG. 3 is a flowchart of the method for saturation band MRI scanning provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure, wherein the specific steps are as follows:

[0049] Step 301: obtaining the position of a saturation band of the saturation band MRI, obtaining the position of the region of interest to be imaged, and taking the direction from the saturation band to the region of interest as a first direction.

[0050] Step 302: determining a direction of the slice selection gradient.

[0051] The saturation band is perpendicular to the region of interest, and the slice selection gradient is perpendicular to the saturation band. Then, there are two directions for the slice selection gradient: one is the same as the direction from the saturation band to the region of interest, and the other is opposite to the direction from the saturation band to the region of interest.

[0052] Step 303: start saturation band MRI scanning, wherein the slice selection gradient is applied on the saturation band in the direction of the slice selection gradient and, when the direction of the slice selection gradient is the same as the first direction, the gradient sign of the applied slice selection gradient is positive and the intensity of the corresponding magnetic field gradually increases and, when the direction of the slice selection gradient is opposite to the first direction, the gradient sign of the applied slice selection gradient is negative and the intensity of the corresponding magnetic field gradually decreases.

[0053] At the same time as the slice to be excited is selected by the slice selection gradient, a radio frequency saturation pulse is applied on the slice selected.

[0054] In the above embodiment, when the slice selection gradient is in the same direction as that from the saturation band to the region of interest, the sign of the applied slice selection gradient is positive and the intensity of the corresponding magnetic field gradually increases; otherwise, the sign of the applied slice selection gradient is negative and the intensity of the corresponding magnetic field gradually decreases, so that the chemical shift caused by the slice selection gradient in the saturation band is always away from the region of interest, and wrong excitation of the region of interest by the saturation pulse can be prevented without changing the width of the saturation band.

[0055] In an alternative embodiment, in step 301 obtaining the position of a saturation band of the saturation band MRI comprises: determining the central point of the saturation band of the saturation band MRI;

[0056] Obtaining the position of the region of interest to be imaged comprises: determining the central point of the field of view (FOV) of imaging;

[0057] Taking the direction from the saturation band to the region of interest as a first direction comprises: taking the direction from the central point of the saturation band to the central point of the FOV as a first direction.

[0058] Through the above embodiment, it is ensured that the chemical shift caused by the slice selection gradient in the saturation band is always away from the region of interest.

[0059] FIGS. 4A-4C are schematic diagrams showing the relationship between the chemical shift of the suppressed region on the one hand and the gradient sign and the intensity of the magnetic field on the other hand. In the FIGS. 4A-4C, S1 and S2 represents the regions to be suppressed, and I represents the region of interest. In FIG. 4A, no gradient is applied, and no chemical shift occurs in S1 or S2 on the two sides of I. In FIG. 4B, a gradient is applied, negative on the left and positive on the right, with the intensity of the magnetic field gradually increasing from left to right. It can be seen that chemical shift in S1 on the left is to the left, i.e., away from I; while chemical shift in S2 on the right is also to the left, i.e., approaching I, as shown by the black arrow in FIG. 4B. In FIG. 4C, a gradient is applied, negative on the right and positive on the left, with the intensity of the magnetic field gradually increasing from right to left. It can be seen that chemical shift in S1 on the left is to the right, i.e., approaching I, while chemical shift in S2 on the right is also to the right, i.e., away from I, as shown by the black arrow in FIG. 4C.

[0060] It can be seen from FIGS. 4B and 4C that, when the intensity of the magnetic field applied to the regions to be suppressed is lower than the intensity of the magnetic field applied to the region of interest, the chemical shift in the regions to be suppressed will be away from the region of interest.

[0061] Therefore, to keep the chemical shift of the saturation band away from the region of interest, a relationship shown in Table 1 can be obtained:

TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 1 Direction of the Direction from the Sign of the slice selection slice selection saturation band to the gradient and intensity of gradient region of interest the magnetic field From right to left Left From positive to negative, gradually decreasing From right to left Right From negative to positive, gradually increasing From left to right Left From negative to positive, gradually increasing From left to right Right From positive to negative, gradually decreasing

[0062] FIGS. 5A-5D illustrate schematic diagrams of the setup of the slice selection gradient by use of the present disclosure. In the FIGS. 5A-5D, S represents a region to be suppressed, and I1 and I2 represent the regions of interest. FIGS. 5A and 5B represent schematic diagrams in which the correct slice selection gradient is used, while FIGS. 5C and 5D represent schematic diagrams in which the wrong slice selection gradient is used. Specifically:

[0063] In FIG. 5A, the saturation band B1 is on the left of the regions of interest I1 and I2, the direction of the slice selection gradient is from left to right, and the sign of the slice selection gradient and the magnetic field intensity are: from negative to positive, gradually increasing, as shown by the third case in Table 1. It can be seen that chemical shift of the saturation band B1 is to the left, i.e., away from the regions of interest I1 and I2;

[0064] In FIG. 5B, the position of the saturation band B1 and the direction of the slice selection gradient are the same as those in FIG. 5A, but the sign of the slice selection gradient and the magnetic field intensity are: from positive to negative, gradually decreasing. It can be seen that chemical shift of the saturation band B1 is to the right, i.e., approaching the regions of interest I1 and I2;

[0065] In FIG. 5C, the saturation band B2 is on the right of the regions of interest I1 and I2, the direction of the slice selection gradient is from right to left, and the sign of the slice selection gradient and the magnetic field intensity are: from negative to positive, gradually increasing, as shown by the second case in Table 1. It can be seen that chemical shift of the saturation band B2 is to the right, i.e., away from the regions of interest I1 and I2;

[0066] In FIG. 5D, the position of the saturation band B2 and the direction of the slice selection gradient are the same as those in FIG. 5C, but the sign of the slice selection gradient and the magnetic field intensity are: from positive to negative, gradually decreasing. It can be seen that chemical shift of the saturation band B2 is to the left, i.e., approaching the regions of interest I1 and I2.

[0067] Verification of the present disclosure by simulated experiments is described below.

[0068] FIGS. 6A-6C illustrate a comparison of simulated saturation band MRI experiments by the existing hard-coding method and by the embodiments of the present disclosure, when a saturation band exists only on one side of the FOV center. In FIGS. 6A-6C, the small cylindrical mold in the upper part is filled with oil, and the large cylindrical mold in the lower part is filled with CuSO4 (copper sulfate). The rectangular grids in FIGS. 6A-6C on top indicates the saturation band, and the white arrows in FIGS. 6A-6C at the bottom indicate the direction of chemical shift;

[0069] The top and at the bottom grids associated with FIG. 6A show the chemical shift of the saturation band when a conventional hard-coding method is used to implicitly narrow the saturation band and TSE (turbo spin echo) for MRI scanning, wherein the width of the saturation band is implicitly reduced by 15%. It is obvious that the chemical shift of the saturation band is to the right, i.e., approaching the FOV center. The reduction of the saturation band can prevent wrong excitation of the tissue on the right.

[0070] The two grids associated with FIG. 6B show the chemical shift of the saturation band when the method provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure to set the slice selection gradient and TSE for MRI scanning, wherein, through setting the sign of the slice selection gradient and the intensity of the magnetic field, chemical shift of the saturation band is to the left, i.e., away from the tissue on the right, without changing the width of the saturation band.

[0071] The two grids associated with FIG. 6C show the chemical shift of the saturation band when a slice selection gradient of the opposite sign and change of magnetic field intensity to those in FIG. 6B is used and TSE is used for MRI scanning, wherein, as the sign of the slice selection gradient and the change of the intensity of the magnetic field are opposite to those in FIG. 6B, chemical shift of the saturation band is to the right, i.e., approaching the tissue on the right. It can be seen that the chemical shift to the right will cause wrong excitation of the tissue on the right in TSE.

[0072] From FIGS. 6A-6C, it can be seen that the direction of chemical shift of a saturation band can be changed through changing the sign of the slice selection gradient and the intensity of the magnetic field.

[0073] It should be noted that there are small white characters in some areas of FIGS. 6A-6C, which are attached to the original image, and the removal of which will delete some details in the image at the same time. Therefore, these small characters are not removed here. These small characters are not directly relevant to the solution of the present disclosure. The unintelligibility of these small characters does not affect the interpretation of the present disclosure by the Figures.

[0074] In FIGS. 6A-6C, a saturation band exists only on one side of the FOV center. In FIGS. 7A-7D, saturation bands exist on both sides of the FOV center. The white arrows in FIGS. 7B and 7C represents the direction of increase of the magnetic field intensity, wherein:

[0075] FIG. 7A illustrates the saturation band set by the existing hard-coding method, i.e., the width of the saturated band is reduced by 15% compared to the width set by the user;

[0076] FIG. 7B uses the saturation band shown in FIG. 7A. It can be seen that the intensity of the gradient magnetic field increases in the same direction in the saturation bands on the left and on the right, both increasing from right to left, and the chemical shifts of the left and right saturation bands are both to the right, i.e., that of the saturation band on one side is approaching the FOV center, and that of the saturation band on the other side is moving away from the FOV center;

[0077] FIG. 7C uses the method of the present disclosure, and the width of the saturation band is not changed, wherein the intensity of the gradient magnetic field increases in opposite directions in the saturation bands on the left and on the right, wherein, the intensity of the gradient magnetic field on the left saturation band increases from left to right, and that on the right saturation band increases from right to left, the chemical shift of the left saturation band is to the left, and the chemical shift of the right saturation band is to the right, both moving away from the FOV center;

[0078] FIG. 7D also uses the method of the present disclosure, but the intensity of the gradient magnetic field on the saturation bands on the left and the right increases in the opposite direction to that in FIG. 7C. It can be seen that the chemical shifts of the saturation bands on both sides approach the FOV center.

[0079] It can be seen that, when there are saturation bands on both sides of the FOV, when the conventional hard-coding method is used, the chemical shifts of the saturation bands on both sides are in the same direction; while with the present disclosure, slice selection gradients of different signs and the intensities of the magnetic fields can be applied on the saturation bands on the two sides, so that chemical shifts of the two saturation bands are in the different directions, making it possible to completely prevent wrong excitation of the region of interest by the saturation pulse.

[0080] It should be noted that there are small white characters in some areas of FIGS. 7A-7D, which are attached to the original image, and the removal of which will delete some details in the image at the same time. Therefore, these small characters are not removed here. These small characters are not directly relevant to the solution of the present disclosure. The unintelligibility of these small characters does not affect the interpretation of the present disclosure by the Figures.

[0081] FIGS. 8A-8D illustrate a comparison of the imaging results of in vivo experiments with an MRI spectral system by the conventional hard-coding method and the present disclosure. In the FIGS. 8A-8D, a volunteers' c-spine is imaged, with the following imaging parameters: FOV size=220×220 mm (millimeters), slice thickness=3 mm, TE/TR (echo time/repetition time)=108/3,500 ms (milliseconds), phase OS (oversampling rate)=80%, BaseRes (base resolution)=384, PhaseRes (ratio of phase resolution to base resolution)=70%, voxel size=0.6×0.6×3 mm, BW (bandwidth)/pixel=260 HZ (Hertz), ESP (echo interval)=10.8 ms, ETL (echo chain length)=19.

[0082] In FIGS. 8A and 8C, the imaging results using the existing hard-coding method are shown, and in FIGS. 8B and 8D the imaging results using the present disclosure are shown. The upper images in the FIGS. A-D schematically show the positions of the corresponding saturation bands. Obviously, in FIGS. B and D, since the saturation bands are not reduced and the region of interest is not wrongly excited, the saturated regions are more accurate and the imaging results are clearer.

[0083] It should be noted that there are small white characters in some areas of FIGS. 8A-8D, which are attached to the original image, and the removal of which will delete some details in the image at the same time. Therefore, these small characters are not removed here. These small characters are not directly relevant to the solution of the present disclosure. The unintelligibility of these small characters does not affect the interpretation of the present disclosure by the Figures.

[0084] FIG. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of a device 90 for saturation band MRI scanning provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure. The device mainly comprises:

[0085] A direction determining module or circuitry (e.g. processing circuitry that may include hardware such as one or more processors, software such as executable instructions, or combinations thereof) 91, used to obtain the position of a saturation band of the saturation band MRI, obtain the position of the region of interest to be imaged, take the direction from the saturation band to the region of interest as a first direction; and determine the direction of the slice selection gradient;

[0086] A slice selection gradient control module or circuitry (e.g. processing circuitry that may include hardware such as one or more processors, software such as executable instructions, or combinations thereof) 92 for controlling the application of the slice selection gradient, used to, when the saturation band MRI scanning starts, apply the slice selection gradient on the saturation band in the direction of the slice selection gradient, wherein, when the direction of the slice selection gradient is the same as the first direction, the gradient sign of the applied slice selection gradient is positive and the intensity of the corresponding magnetic field gradually increases, and when the direction of the slice selection gradient is opposite to the first direction, the gradient sign of the applied slice selection gradient is negative and the intensity of the corresponding magnetic field gradually decreases.

[0087] In an alternative embodiment, obtaining, by the direction determining module 91, the position of a saturation band of the saturation band MRI comprises: determining the central point of the saturation band of the saturation band MRI;

[0088] Determining, by the direction determining module 91, the position of the region of interest to be imaged comprises: determining the central point of the field of view (FOV) of imaging;

[0089] Taking, by the direction determining module 91, the direction from the saturation band to the region of interest as a first direction comprises: taking the direction from the central point of the saturation band to the central point of the FOV as a first direction.

[0090] In an alternative embodiment, the device further comprises: an RF control module or circuitry (e.g. processing circuitry that may include hardware such as one or more processors, software such as executable instructions, or combinations thereof) for controlling the application of radio frequency saturation pulses, used to apply a radio frequency saturation pulse on the slice selected by the slice selection gradient.

[0091] FIG. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of a device 100 for saturation band MRI scanning provided by another embodiment of the present disclosure, and the device mainly comprises: a memory 101 and a processor 102 that can access the memory 101, wherein the memory 101 stores an instruction, which, when executed by the processor 102, causes the processor 102 to execute the steps of the method for saturation band MRI scanning described in steps 301-303. The devices 90 and 100 may combined or integrated together and/or or each be implemented by an MR imaging apparatus, in accordance with various embodiments.

[0092] The embodiments of the present disclosure also provide an MRI system, comprising the devices for saturation band MRI scanning described in any of the above paragraphs.

[0093] It should be noted that, since the present disclosure determines the sign of the slice selection gradient and the magnetic field intensity by comparing the direction of the slice selection gradient with the direction from the saturation band to the region of interest, the present disclosure does not need to consider whether the saturation band is symmetrical or not, i.e., the present disclosure is not only suitable for symmetrical saturation bands, but also for asymmetrical saturation bands.

[0094] The above are only the preferred embodiments of the present disclosure, and are not intended to limit the present disclosure. Any modification, equivalent replacement and improvement made without departing from the motivation and principle of the present disclosure shall be included in its scope.