Patent ID: 8242780

Claim:
A method to automatically differentiate respective pixels in magnetic resonance images as representing either a silicon-dominated substance, or fat-dominated tissue, or water-dominated tissue, comprising the steps of with a magnetic resonance data acquisition unit, acquiring magnetic resonance data from a subject in the data acquisition unit that will be processed to form pixels in at least one magnetic resonance image, by acquiring, for each pixel, a first magnetic resonance signal from the subject and a second magnetic resonance signal from the subject; operating said data acquisition unit to acquire said first magnetic resonance signal for each pixel at a point in time at which a phase of a magnetic resonance signal originating from water-containing tissue in the subject exhibits a phase opposite to a phase of a magnetic resonance signal originating from fat-containing tissue in the subject, and acquiring said second magnetic resonance signal, for each pixel, at a point in time at which the phase of said magnetic resonance signal originating from water-containing tissue in the subject exhibits a phase identical to the phase of the magnetic resonance signal originating from fat-containing tissue in the subject, and a phase of a magnetic resonance signal originating from a silicon-containing substance in the subject exhibits a phase opposite to the phase of the magnetic resonance signal originating from water-containing tissue or the phase of the magnetic resonance signal originating from fat-containing tissue; for each pixel, automatically determining, in a processor, a first intermediate result indicating whether that pixel represents a signal originating from water-dominated tissue or fat-dominated tissue, based on said first magnetic resonance signal; for each pixel, automatically determining in said processor, a second intermediate result indicating whether that pixel represents a signal originating from said silicon-dominated substance, based on said second magnetic resonance signal; and in said processor, automatically designating each pixel as representing either water-dominated tissue or fat-dominated tissue, or said silicon-dominated substance, based on said first intermediate result and said second intermediate result, and making said pixels available at an output of said processor, embodying the respective designations, in an image or in a form allowing generation of said at least one magnetic resonance image from said pixels.