Patent ID: 11879953
Assignee: THE GENERAL HOSPITAL CORPORATION
Field: Medical technology (Instruments)
Classification: CPC G  A | IPC A  G

Claim 0:
1. A method for evaluating motility and emptying in a gastrointestinal tract of a subject using magnetic resonance imaging comprising:
administering a contrast agent to the subject;
acquiring, using an MRI system, a set of MR data from the subject using a three-dimensional volumetric pulse sequence having a temporal resolution and a spatial resolution configured to facilitate measurement of volumetric and motility parameters, wherein acquiring a set of MR data from the subject using a three-dimensional volumetric pulse sequence comprises:
acquiring a first set of MR data from the subject using the three-dimensional volumetric pulse sequence at a first time point after administration of the contrast agent;
acquiring a second set of MR data from the subject using the three-dimensional volumetric pulse sequence at a second time point after administration of the contrast agent; and
acquiring a third set of MR data from the subject using the three-dimensional volumetric pulse sequence at a third time point after administration of the contrast agent;

reconstructing a set of images using the set of MR data;
segmenting each image in the set of images to isolate a region of interest in the gastrointestinal tract of the subject;
determining at least one volumetric or motility parameter based on the set of segmented images; and
generating a report indicating the at least one volumetric or motility parameter.