1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a magnetic resonance imaging apparatus as a medical diagnostic device and a position setting support method thereof, and more particularly to a magnetic resonance imaging apparatus which is used when, e.g., reception coils should be more accurately set and stores patient information in, especially, a medical picture archiving and communication system (PACS) through a network.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, when examining a patient (a test subject), imaging an imaging target region of the same patient under the same imaging conditions as before and after an operation or follow-up is often desired in a magnetic resonance imaging apparatus.
Further, in regard to a medical diagnostic imaging apparatus, for example, Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 10-258064 discloses an apparatus that positions and fixes a head region of a test subject. Furthermore, Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2006-167042 discloses an apparatus that simultaneously displays a comparison image based on a recorded image acquired from a past examination and a scan image acquired from a current examination in an overlapping manner and obtains an image at a position substantially the same as that in the past examination in accordance with matching of display positions of these images.
However, in the apparatus disclosed in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 10-258064, since a region examined by the diagnostic imaging apparatus is not restricted to a head region, it is considered that condition matching means having higher general versatility is required. Moreover, providing such an apparatus leads to increase in cost, and there is also a concern about a burden imposed on a test subject whose head region is forcibly fixed during an examination. Additionally, since a time to fix a head region is required, an examination time may become long. Further, although a test subject is fixed by using, e.g., a fixing band, an imaging cloth, or a net, this imposes a considerable burden on the patient.
Furthermore, in the apparatus disclosed in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2006-167042, there is no description about setting reception coils such as a magnetic resonance imaging apparatus.
In case of the magnetic resonance imaging apparatus, an image may become completely different depending on how reception coils are set even though imaging is carried out under the same conditions. Therefore, a method of recording, e.g., coil names or coil positional information in a previous examination is adopted.
However, even if such a method is adopted, there is no method that is suitable for recording a relative position relationship between reception coils and a test subject that is the biggest problem, and a countermeasure must be taken.