METHODS AND DEVICES FOR COMBINED ECG AND PPU CONTROLLED MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING

This invention relates to methods and apparatus for medical imaging of parts of a patient in which imaging data acquisition is gated by a combination of electrocardiogram (ECG) and peripheral pulse (PPU) signals from the patient. The methods of the invention include obtaining ECG signals from a patient in a medical imaging apparatus, obtaining PPU signals from the patient, providing one or more synchronization signals in dependence on both the ECG signals and the PPU signals, wherein the synchronization signals indicate occurrences of pre-determined phases of the cyclic movements of the heart only if the PPU signals also indicate that the determined heart phase is physiologically possible, and controlling the medical imaging apparatus in dependence on the synchronization signals to collect imaging data synchronized with cyclic movements of the heart from the patient in the examination zone and to reconstruct a medical image of a part of the patient from the collected imaging data. The medical imaging apparatus of the invention includes such units in addition to the imaging units as are necessary from the practice of the methods of the invention. This invention is preferably applied to magnetic resonance imaging and to computed tomographic x-ray imaging.