JP2001212106A - Magnetic resonance imaging apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable accurate assessment of the state of use in the sequence, a photographing part, a receiving coil and the like used during the measurement. SOLUTION: The frequency of use of the sequence applied during the measurement of a magnetic resonance imaging image, the frequency of measurement per photographing part and the frequency of use of a receiving coil applied during the measurement are counted by counters corresponding to types of application and the frequency data counted are preserved into a magnetic disc 18. The frequency data preserved in the magnetic disc 18 is made graphic to be shown on a display 20. The display screen of the display 20 is changed by an input from an operating part 21 comprising a keyboard 22 and a mouse 23 and the data of maintenance of the receiving coil, the frequency of use thereof at the moment of the maintenance and the like are inputted to display a warning message when the frequency of use approaches the frequency of the maintenance.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention [0002] The present invention relates to a magnetic resonance imaging apparatus, and more particularly to a magnetic resonance imaging apparatus having a function of recording a sequence used for measurement, an imaging region, and a use state of a receiving coil, and displaying the information.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus receives an echo signal obtained by measuring a nuclear spin density distribution, a relaxation time distribution, and the like at a desired examination site in a subject by utilizing an NMR phenomenon. Then, an arbitrary cross section of the subject is displayed as an image based on the signal data, and a receiving coil is set according to an imaging part of the subject to be measured, and measurement is performed by setting measurement conditions such as an appropriate measurement sequence. .
Further, in actual operation, a measurement condition frequently used for each radiographed part is combined into one, and a diagnostic image is measured using the created condition.

[0003] The receiving coil used has a shape suitable for each part to be imaged, and some receiving coils for the same part are prepared in large, medium and small sizes depending on the size of the subject. , And use them properly. This means that the sequence used and the frequency of use of the receiving coil vary depending on the application field of the device.

On the other hand, in the case of maintenance, when the sequence is improved due to the software version upgrade, it may be necessary to adjust or change the sequence parameters again in the measurement sequence that could be measured until now. However, at this time, the device is rented for a certain period of time for adjustment work.

[0005]

However, if the adjustment items are diversified, there is a problem that the adjustment work time is prolonged in proportion thereto. Further, in the event of a failure of the receiving coil, the current situation is that all of the steps of receiving a notification after the failure and performing repair / replacement are post-processing styles.

[0006] The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and it is possible to display the sequence used during measurement, the imaging site, and the usage status of the receiving coil and the like, thereby grasping the operation status of the device at a glance. It is an object of the present invention to provide a magnetic resonance imaging apparatus capable of performing work efficiently at the time of maintenance or the like.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a measurement sequence, an imaging part of a subject,
A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus that sets at least one or more of the receiving coils that receive an echo signal emitted by nuclear magnetic resonance, and reconstructs an image using the echo signal measured under the set measurement conditions. A counter that counts at least one of the number of times the sequence used during the measurement, the number of measurements for each imaging region, and the number of times the receiving coil was used during the measurement, and a usage state based on the count value of the counter. And output means for visually outputting the output.

That is, according to the present invention, the sequence at the time of measurement, the imaging region, and the number of times the receiving coil is used are counted, and the count is made visible on a display or a print output, so that the sequence can be readjusted. When performing maintenance on devices, information on how to operate the devices and which sequences are used most often can be obtained, so which sequence should be prioritized for adjustment Thus, it is possible to easily change the distribution of the adjustment period, change the priority of the inspection item, and the like, and improve the work efficiency for completing the operation within the predetermined adjustment period.

Further, the operating status of the apparatus can be grasped at a glance, and if the number of times of use is graphed for each day, week or month, simple and excellent visibility information can be provided. In particular, in the case of receiving coils, fatigue failure of joints and the like is likely to occur due to its structure.Therefore, by combining usage records and information on how often the failure occurred, accidents due to future fatigue failure can be prevented. You can make a regular maintenance plan to prevent it from happening.

Further, by comprehensively evaluating information such as the usage status of each of these devices, it is understood that the product configuration depending on the operation status of the device and the field of use of the device is substantially determined. It is possible to grasp the demands and product composition according to the field (orthopedics / brain surgery / internal medicine, etc.), the priority of the sequence to be developed, etc., to clarify the index of future product development, and It will be possible to provide appropriate products accurately.

[0011]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the magnetic resonance imaging apparatus according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of a magnetic resonance imaging apparatus according to the present invention. This magnetic resonance imaging apparatus obtains a tomographic image of a subject 1 by utilizing a nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) phenomenon. As shown in FIG. 1, a static magnetic field generating magnet 2, a magnetic field gradient generating system 3, A transmission system 5, a reception system 6, a signal processing system 7 including an operation unit 21,
It comprises a sequencer 4 and a central processing unit (CPU) 8.

The static magnetic field generating magnet 2 generates a uniform static magnetic field around the subject 1 in a body axis direction or a direction perpendicular to the body axis, and has a certain spread around the subject 1. A permanent magnet type, a normal conduction type, or a superconducting type magnetic field generating means is arranged in the space. The magnetic field gradient generating system 3 includes a gradient magnetic field coil 9 wound in three axes of X, Y, and Z, and a gradient magnetic field power supply 10 for driving each of the gradient magnetic field coils 9. By driving the gradient magnetic field power supplies 10 of the respective coils according to the above, gradient magnetic fields Gx, Gy, and Gz in three axes of X, Y, and Z are applied to the subject 1. A slice plane for the subject 1 can be set by how to apply the gradient magnetic field.

The sequencer 4 repeatedly applies a high-frequency magnetic field pulse for causing nuclear magnetic resonance to the nuclei of the atoms constituting the living tissue of the subject 1 in a predetermined pulse sequence, and operates under the control of the CPU 8. Various commands necessary for data collection of tomographic images of the subject 1 are sent to the transmission system 5, the magnetic field gradient generation system 3, and the reception system 6.

The transmitting system 5 irradiates a high-frequency magnetic field to cause nuclear magnetic resonance in the nuclei of the atoms constituting the living tissue of the subject 1 by the high-frequency pulse sent from the sequencer 4. , Modulator 1
2, high-frequency amplifier 13, and high-frequency coil 14 on the transmission side
a, and outputs the high-frequency pulse output from the high-frequency oscillator 11 to the modulator 1 in accordance with a command from the sequencer 4.
The electromagnetic wave is applied to the subject 1 by supplying the high-frequency coil 14a arranged in close proximity to the subject 1 after amplifying the amplitude-modulated high-frequency pulse by the high-frequency amplifier 13 and then supplying the amplified high-frequency pulse to the high-frequency coil 14a. It has become.

The receiving system 6 detects an echo signal (NMR signal) emitted by nuclear magnetic resonance of an atomic nucleus of a living tissue of the subject 1, and includes a high-frequency coil 14b on the receiving side.
(Receiving coil), amplifier 15, and quadrature detector 16
And an A / D converter 17. The electromagnetic wave (NMR signal) of the response of the subject 1 due to the electromagnetic wave emitted from the high-frequency coil 14 a on the transmission side is a high-frequency coil 14 b disposed close to the subject 1. (Receiver coil), is input to an A / D converter 17 via an amplifier 15 and a quadrature detector 16 and is converted into a digital quantity. Further, the quadrature detector 1 is output at a timing according to a command from the sequencer 4.
The data is converted into two series of sampled data by the sampling unit 6 and the signal is sent to the signal processing system 7.

The signal processing system 7 comprises a CPU 8, a recording device such as a magnetic disk 18 and a magnetic tape 19, a display 20 such as a CRT, and an operation unit 21.
In U8, processing such as Fourier transform and correction coefficient calculation image reconstruction is performed, and a signal intensity distribution of an arbitrary cross section or a distribution obtained by performing an appropriate operation on a plurality of signals is imaged and displayed on the display 20 as a tomographic image. It has become. The operation unit 21 is for inputting control information for processing performed by the signal processing system 7, and includes a keyboard 22 and a mouse 23.
Consists of

Here, in the present invention, as shown in FIG. 2, the receiving coil is set according to the imaged part of the subject to be measured, and measurement is performed by setting measurement conditions such as an appropriate measurement sequence. At this time, among the measurement conditions set for each measurement, the sequence (sequence 1, sequence 2, sequence 3,...), The imaging region (Head, Neck, Body,...), The receiving coil (coil 1, coil 2) , Coil 3,...) Are counted. The counter is stored in the magnetic disk 18 as a database, and the sequence,
Each type of imaging part and receiving coil exists,
It is managed as daily use count data.

In the example shown in FIG. 2, the sequence is set as sequence 1, the imaging part is set as body, and the receiving coil is set as coil 2 as the measurement conditions by the operation of the operation unit 21, so that the sequence 1, body, and Coil 2
Is incremented by one.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a method of counting the sequence used at the time of measurement. The counting method of the sequence basically counts up for each meter (F1) (F4), and when the date changes from the previous measurement at the time of counting (F2), a new counter area is used as the data of the current date. Create (F3) and count up to 0
Start with the case (F4).

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing a method of counting the imaging region of the subject. After the measurement (F5), the count is incremented when the subject changes from the previous measurement (F6) or when the imaging part changes (F7) (F1).
0). Similarly, if the date has changed since the previous measurement at the time of counting (F8), a new counter area is created as data of the current date (F9), and counting up starts from 0 (F10).

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a method of counting the number of receiving coils used at the time of measurement. Measurement (F1
1) After that, when the subject changes from the previous measurement (F1
2) Or, when the receiving coil has changed (F13), the count is incremented (F16). If the date has changed since the previous measurement at the time of counting (F14) as in the case of the sequence and the imaging part described above, a new counter area is created as the data of the current date (F15), and the count is incremented. Start from 0 (F16).

As shown in FIG. 2, when a use status display is requested from the operation unit 21, each use status information read from the database is graphed and displayed on the display 20.

Next, the use status screen of the display 20 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 6 is an example of a screen displaying the usage status of the receiving coil.
Each usage state of the receiving coil can be performed by operating the mouse 23 and switching a pull-down menu.

The graph is drawn as a line graph with the number of times on the vertical axis and the date on the horizontal axis, and the display on the horizontal axis is switched by a pull-down menu using the mouse 23 in units of one day, one week, or one month according to the purpose. be able to. When the display level is switched, data managed for each date is added on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis, and the added value is displayed on the vertical axis. At this time, the scale on the vertical axis is automatically adjusted to an appropriate value according to the display level on the horizontal axis. When the arrow button on the horizontal axis is clicked with the mouse 23, the display range on the horizontal axis moves, and past data stored in the database can be referenced.

In addition, any one of the graphs
By selecting in step 3, detailed information on the usage status of the selected item is displayed in the lower field. The items to be displayed are: Sequence: Total number of times of use Imaging site: Total number of times of capture Receiving coil: Total number of times of use, last maintenance date, number of times of last use at maintenance, next time of maintenance.

Further, a mechanism for not only displaying detailed information but also performing key input using the keyboard 22 is provided. The date when maintenance was performed on the receiving coil in the event of failure or the like (previous maintenance execution date) and the usage at that time The number of times (the number of times of use at the previous maintenance) can be entered and saved.

In particular, in the case of the receiving coil, since the joint portion may cause a fatigue failure depending on the frequency of use, in order to prevent an accident due to the failure, the number of times of use at the time of failure (here, the number of times of use at the previous maintenance) )
It is a very effective means to record this information, so use this information in order to perform appropriate maintenance in the future, and how much maintenance will be required after using this receiving coil, The next maintenance time is also displayed. When the number of times of use approaches the number of times of maintenance, a warning message is displayed. In this embodiment, the status of use and the like are displayed on the display, but may be printed out by a printer or the like.

[0029]

As described above, according to the present invention, the sequence at the time of measurement, the imaging region, and the number of times the receiving coil is used are counted and can be visually recognized on a display or the like. The situation can be grasped at a glance, and when performing maintenance of the apparatus, it is possible to give an indication of the priority of the work item and to improve the work efficiency. In the receiving coil, a maintenance status is input, and when the number of times of use approaches the number of times of maintenance, a warning message is displayed, whereby an accident due to a fatigue failure can be prevented.

Further, by comprehensively evaluating information such as the use status of each of these devices, the field of use of the device (orthopedic surgery /
(Surgery / internal medicine, etc.), the product configuration, the priority of the sequence to be developed, etc. can be grasped, the index of future product development can be clarified, and the products that meet the demands of the application field of the equipment can be provided accurately Will be able to

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of a magnetic resonance imaging apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart used to explain a schematic operation of the magnetic resonance imaging apparatus according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a method of counting a sequence used during measurement.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating a method of counting an imaging part of a subject.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a counting method of a receiving coil used at the time of measurement.

FIG. 6 is a view showing an example of a usage state screen of a receiving coil displayed on a display.

[Explanation of symbols]

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 subject, 2 static magnetic field generating magnet, 3 magnetic field gradient generating system, 4 sequencer, 5 transmitting system, 6 receiving system, 7 signal processing system, 8 central processing unit (CPU), 18 magnetic system Disk, 20 display, 21 operation unit, 22 keyboard, 23 mouse

Claims (1)

[Claims] At least one of a measurement sequence, an imaging part of an object, and a receiving coil for receiving an echo signal emitted by nuclear magnetic resonance is set,
In a magnetic resonance imaging apparatus that reconstructs images using echo signals measured under the set measurement conditions, the number of times the sequence used during measurement, the number of measurements for each imaging site, and the number of reception coils used during measurement A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus comprising: a counter that counts at least one of the number of times of use; and an output unit that visually outputs a use state based on the count value of the counter.