Method and system for performing upright magnetic resonance imaging of various anatomical and physiological conditions

Abstract

Vasculature or parenchyma is imaged using upright MRI techniques, on patients who may have conditions such as congestive heart failure, or otherwise be healthy. When an individual is horizontal, venous drainage is minimized, causing the vessels to remain engorged, also referred to herein as vascular congestion. Vascular congestion results in an enlarging of the vessels and surrounding tissue causing the vessels to be more visible on MRIs. The decrease in vascular visibility in upright subjects is in part, due to an increase in venous drainage. Patients suffering from coronary and / or pulmonary deficiencies (e.g. CHF) experience decreased rates and degrees of venous drainage. In one embodiment, the present invention uses upright imaging to visualize these enlarged vessels.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application claims the benefit of the filing date of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61 / 270,405 filed Jul. 8, 2009, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference.BACKGROUND[0002]Magnetic resonance imaging (“MRI”) offers numerous advantages over other imaging techniques. MRI does not expose either the patient or medical personnel to X-rays and offers important safety advantages. Also, MRI can obtain images of soft tissues within the body which are not readily visualized using other imaging techniques. This feature makes MRI particularly useful in analyzing the parenchymal lung tissue and pulmonary vasculature in certain patients.[0003]Different tissues produce different signal characteristics. Tissues having a high density of nuclei will produce stronger signals than tissues with a low density of such nuclei. Furthermore, relatively small gradients in the magnetic field are superimposed on the static magne...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0014]The present invention is not limited only to the use of MR signal intensity to perform the methods described herein. In other another aspects of the present invention, any type of MR signal characteristic (e.g. signal phase, signal frequency and signal amplitude) can be used either independently, or in combination with one another, to aid the clinician in making clinical determinations about vasculature, parenchyma and or cardiac function.

Problems solved by technology

Also, MRI can obtain images of soft tissues within the body which are not readily visualized using other imaging techniques.

This method of imaging creates a unique challenge with some patients.

This makes obtaining accurate diagnostic images of these patients very difficult.

Images