Patent Document ID: 8269495
Application ID: 12571540
Patent Status: 1

Claim One:
1. A method to determine an inversion time value for contrast improvement between different tissue in contrast agent-supported magnetic resonance imaging, comprising the steps of: with a magnetic resonance data acquisition unit, acquiring a series of magnetic resonance images of an imaging area using an inversion recovery sequence, with different inversion times, applied to an examination subject by the magnetic resonance data acquisition unit, each of said magnetic resonance images being comprised of image elements and each image element having a signal intensity associated therewith; in a processor, segmenting a structure that appears in each of said magnetic resonance images; in said processor, determining a time response of the signal intensity of image elements of the segmented structure that correspond to each other in the respective magnetic resonance images; in said processor, determining minima of said signal intensity of said image elements in said segmented structure, and associating an inversion time value to said minima; and in said processor, determining an optimal inversion time value for contrast improvement for said segmented structure from said inversion time values associated with said minima, and making a signal representing said optimal inversion time value available at an output of said processor.