1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a magnetic resonance imaging apparatus having a user interface capable of easily determining a tomographic position and a method of controlling the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus creates images of chemical and physical microscopic information of materials or observes a chemical shift spectrum by using a phenomenon in which a group of nucleuses having an inherent magnetic moment resonantly absorbs energies of a high frequency magnetic field rotating at a specific frequency when they are located in a uniform static magnetic field.
In a tomography using the magnetic resonance imaging apparatus, it is generally necessary to set various tomographic parameters (tomography sequence) such as, for example, TR, TE, a slice thickness, a size of FOV or the like. Since each tomographic parameter has an influence on the contrast of an image correlating with the other parameters, some technical knowledge or technologies and experiences are required to obtain images suitable for a diagnosis. In general, an operator performs another modality. For this reason, a period when the magnetic resonance imaging apparatus is not operated is generated, so that it is difficult for the operator to get used to the operation of the magnetic resonance imaging apparatus. As a result, there are cases that the operation time grows longer and the throughput of the work degrades.
In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, there are technologies called a simple tomography or PAS (programmable anatomical system). The simple tomography is a tomography method for beginners in which the beginners can relatively easily tomograph a MR image. In addition, the PAS is a function that can automatically preset tomographic parameters for each object part before scanning. By using these technologies, even engineers not having sufficient experiences can set suitable tomographic parameters to tomograph a suitable diagnosis image.
However, in the magnetic resonance imaging apparatuses in the related art, setting a position and an angle of a ROI (region of interest) has the following problems. Specifically, in the related art, most of the tomographic parameters can automatically be set by the PAS technology. However, the position and angle of the ROI cannot be automatically set. As a result, the operator subjectively determines and sets the position and angle of the ROI through the manual operation with a sufficient attention. At this time, a user interface setting the position and angle of the ROI from the positional relationships between an outline and an internal organ in a subject is used. However, there is a possibility that the unaccustomed user sets the ROI at the erroneous position and angle and tomographs it.
Furthermore, since the magnetic resonance imaging apparatus can tomograph all parts of the human body, a considerable training time is needed to master the flawless tomography technique. Therefore, in order to solve these problems through mastering the specialized knowledge or technology, a burden is large from a viewpoint of time, cost and management. In addition, from a medical point of view requiring an early diagnosis and therapy, the magnetic resonance imaging apparatus is not necessarily preferable.