Patent ID: 6639406
Filing Date: 2003-10-28
Classification: G01R

Abstract:
A system for decoupling receive coil signals in a magnetic resonance imaging system, the system comprising:a magnetic resonance scanner comprising: a primary coil; one or more gradient coils; a quadrature phased array receive coil assembly comprising one or more receive coil elements wherein each element comprises: a quadrature coil pair; a combiner circuit connected to the quadrature coil pair such that the combiner circuit receives a first signal from a first member of the quadrature pair and a second signal from a second member of the quadrature pair wherein the combiner phase shifts the first signal by 90 degrees and the second signal by 180 degrees and combines the first signal and the second signal to produce a combined signal; a preamplifier connected to the combiner circuit which processes the combined signal such that a component of the combined signal attributable to the second signal is decoupled from one or more other signals produced by the second members of other receive coil elements; a control and acquisition circuit operatively connected to the magnetic resonance scanner; one or more system controller circuits operatively connected to the control and acquisition circuit; and an operator interface station operatively connected to the one or more system control circuits.