REAL-TIME ACQUISITION, DISPLAY, AND INTERACTIVE GRAPHIC CONTROL OF NMR CARDIAC PROFILES AND IMAGES

A highly interactive MRI scanner interface has been developed that all ows, for the first time, real-time graphic control of one-dimensional (1D) and two-dimensional (2D) cardiac MRI exams. The system comprises a Mercury array processor (AP) in a Sun SPARCserver with two connectio ns to the MRI scanner, a data link that passes the NMR data directly t o the AP as they are collected, and a control link that passes command s from the Sun to the scanner to redirect the imaging pulse sequence i n real time. In the 1D techniques, a cylinder or ''pencil'' of magneti zation is repeatedly excited using gradient-echo or spin-echo line-sca n sequences, with the magnetization read out each time along the lengt h of the cylinder, and a scrolling display generated on the Sun monito r. Rubber-band lines drawn on the scout image redirect the pencil or i maging slice to different locations, with the changes immediately visi ble in the display. M-mode imaging, ID flow imaging, and 2D fast cardi ac imaging have been demonstrated on normal volunteers using this syst em. This platform represents an operator-friendly'' way of directing r eal-time imaging of the heart.