NAVIGATOR-BASED MAGNETIC RESONANCE METHOD AND APPARATUS TO DETECT NON-RIGID MOTION IN LARGE JOINT MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING

摘要

In a magnetic resonance (MR) navigator-based method and apparatus, MR data are acquired from a large joint of a patient, which is not modelable as a whole based on a single rigid body model. The field of view which the MR data are acquired is divided in a processor into multiple sub-sections, with each sub-section being modelable based on a rigid body model. MR navigator signals are acquired from each of the sub-sections, and these navigator signals are used in a motion tracking algorithm that is based on a rigid body model in order to generate a modeling result that tracks the movement of the overall joint within the field of view. The modeling result can be used for prospective or retrospective motion correction of the MR data.