Real Time Interactive Volumetric Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Description of Invention:
The invention makes possible "live" volume renderings from a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanner. Previously, volume renderings from MRI data could only be generated off-line, some time after the image data was collected. In one embodiment of the invention, the time between data collection and volume rendering update (the latency) is approximately one third of a second at a frame rate of approximately 10 updates per second. User interaction with the rendering, such as rotation and cut planes, is allowed during imaging. This gives a caregiver real-time three-dimensional feedback while manipulating devices within a patient's body. The invention may be of benefit to several types of image-guided interventional procedures, including cardiac catheterization, tumor removal, ablation or biopsies.
Inventors:
Michael Guttman and Elliott McVeigh (NHLBI)
Patent Status:
DHHS Reference No. E-082-2001/0 --
U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/269,363 filed 16 Feb 2001
PCT Application No. PCT/US02/04537 filed 14 Feb 2002, which published as WO 02/067202 on 29 Aug 2002
U.S. Patent Application No. 10/076,882 filed 14 Feb 2002
For Additional Information Please Contact: Michael Shmilovich J.D.
NIH Office of Technology Transfer
6011 Executive Blvd, Suite 325
Rockville, MD 20852-3804
Phone: (301) 435-5019
Email: shmilovm@mail.nih.gov
Fax: (301) 402-0220
