Patent ID: 6160398
Filing Date: 2000-12-12
Classification: G01R

Abstract:
A method reconstructing a phased array nuclear magnetic resonance image comprising the steps of:a) using N coils, N>1, collecting N sets of nuclear magnetic resonance data, each of said data sets having a multitude of sample values;b) from said data sets, forming N complex images {C.sub.j, j=1, . . . , N} of an image space, each of said N complex images formed from data from a single coil; and,c) for a chosen pixel within an image space, forming a reconstructed pixel formed by the steps of:1) mathematically creating a sample correlation matrix R.sub.s by averaging complex cross products of the images {C.sub.j, j=1, . . . N} over two or more pixel locations in the image space,2) establishing a noise array correlation matrix, R.sub.n,3) computing a preliminary matrix P=R.sub.n.sup.-1 .times.R.sub.s,4) from P, establishing an Eigen de-composition P', consisting of a set of Eigenvectors {V.sub.j, j=1, . . . , N} and associated Eigenvalues {.lambda..sub.j, j=1, . . . , N},5) from P', establishing a vector m being the Eigenvector V.sub.k whose associated Eigenvalue .lambda..sub.k has the maximal magnitude among all the Eigenvalues (/.lambda..sub.k />/.lambda..sub.j /, j=1, . . . , N),6) creating a pixel weight vector m* formed as a complex conjugate value of m, and,7) forming the reconstructed pixel I where I= ##EQU2##