Patent ID: 8598875

Claim:
An MRI apparatus comprising: a magnet structure which delimits a cavity for receiving a body under examination or a part thereof, said magnet structure including means for generating a magnetic field in said cavity, means for causing the body under examination or the part thereof to emit nuclear magnetic resonance signals, a region of space defined within said cavity as an imaging volume, and means for receiving said nuclear magnetic resonance signals; and an electronic processing unit with which said means for receiving the nuclear magnetic resonance signals are electrically connected; wherein the geometric center of the cavity delimited by the magnet structure is in offset relation to the geometric center of the imaging volume; and wherein said magnetic field generating means include at least two opposing magnetic pole pieces located at two opposite sides of the cavity, said magnetic pole pieces comprising at least one layer of magnetized material to generate a magnetic field oriented from one to the other of said two magnetic pole pieces, magnetic field flux returning means being provided at the two opposite sides of a section plane of the cavity which is oriented transverse, said at least two returning elements being magnetized with different magnetizations, to thereby generate an offset of the geometric center of the imaging volume with respect to the geometric center of the geometric shape of the cavity delimited by said magnet structure.