US Patent 7957788 Interventional magnetic resonance imaging based on global coherent free precession

Methods and systems for obtaining intravascular magnetic resonance images of blood flow are disclosed. In preferred forms, a train of radio frequency (RF) pulses is produced by an intravascularly introduced RF transmitter positioned in proximate location to the blood flow so as to create a continuous stream of coherently excited protons of the blood flow. The coherently excited protons of the blood flow are sampled as the protons freely precess while flowing through a region of three dimensional space unaffected by the ongoing intravascular RF excitation. An image of the sampled coherently excited protons may then be constructed.