Patent ID: 9414767
Filing Date: 2016-08-16
CPC Classification: A61B

Claim Text:
1. A method to correct an EKG signal, comprising: operating a magnetic resonance (MR) data acquisition scanner to execute a data acquisition sequence that comprises gradient jumps that repeatedly, respectively occur at respective fixed time intervals from each other; while operating said MR data acquisition scanner to execute said sequence, acquiring an EKG signal from a patient in the MR data acquisition scanner, said EKG signal comprising a plurality of cardiac cycles each having an R-spike therein that is to be detected and used to trigger acquisition of MR data in said sequence, each cardiac cycle in said plurality of cardiac cycles having a cycle duration that is at least five times said time interval, said EKG signal also comprising interference signals that results from said gradient jumps; providing said EKG signal to a computer and, in said computer, immediately after the R-spike in a first cardiac cycle of said plurality of cardiac cycles, making no detection of subsequent R-spikes during a dead time that is shorter than said cycle duration, and defining the EKG signal acquired during said dead time as a reference signal; in said computer, automatically analyzing said reference signal to extract interference signals therefrom that repeat at said time interval and using the extracted interference signals to generate a correction signal having a correction signal duration equal to said time interval; in said computer, automatically repeating said correction signal and synchronizing the repeated correction signals with said EKG signal and, with the synchronized repeated correction signals, correcting said EKG signal, at least outside of said dead time, to produce a corrected EKG signal that does not exhibit said interference signals; and from said computer, emitting said corrected EKG signal in electronic form, and using R-spikes detected in said corrected EKG signal to trigger acquisition of MR data by said MR data acquisition scanner in said sequence.