5422577 Method and apparatus for producing slicing planes for nuclear magnetic resonance imaging with desired thickness

Abstract

A method of producing slicing planes in a nuclear magnetic resonance imaging system capable of obtaining a thin slice thickness easily. RF pulses for sequentially exciting a plurality of excitation planes for determining slicing planes are generated, wherein frequencies of the RF pulses are sequentially controlled such that each two adjacent ones of excitation planes have a mutually overlapping region and two separate non-overlapping regions. Then the generated RF pulses are applied to an object to be examined which has been placed in appropriate static and gradient magnetic fields for obtaining nuclear magnetic resonance signals from the slicing planes defined by the excitation planes in accordance with the mutually overlapping region and the separate non-overlapping regions of each two adjacent ones of the excitation planes. Each RF pulse for exciting one excitation plane may be immediately preceded by a re-excitation RF pulse for re-exciting an immediately preceding excitation plane which serves as a pre-saturation pulse.