1. A method of reconstructing a carpometacarpal (CMC) joint of a thumb of a hand, comprising:
a) implanting an implant having an elongated tapered portion and a tapered neck into the CMC joint;
b) stripping away a portion of a tendon to leave a distal attachment intact adjacent to the implant;
c) wrapping the tendon around the tapered neck of the implant to a point intersecting a remaining tendon at a palm side of the hand; and
d) suturing the tendon to the remaining tendon.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein step b) includes stripping away a portion of a flexor carpi radialis (FCR) tendon.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein step b) includes stripping away a portion of an abductor pollicis longus (APL) tendon.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the elongated tapered portion is inserted into a cavity formed in a metacarpal until an end face of an internal bulge of the implant circumferentially contacts a cortex of the metacarpal.
5. The method of claim 4, wherein the tapered neck is disposed between the internal bulge and an articulation bulge of the implant.
6. The method of claim 5, wherein the tapered neck has a cross-sectional area that is less than a cross-sectional area of the internal bulge and a cross-sectional area of the articulation bulge.
7. A method of reconstructing a carpometacarpal (CMC) joint of a thumb of a hand, comprising:
a) implanting an implant having an elongated tapered portion and a tapered neck into the CMC joint;
b) attaching a securing element to a tendon at a first location;
c) wrapping the securing element around the tapered neck of the implant to a point intersecting the tendon at a palm side of the hand; and
d) attaching the securing element to the tendon at a second location.
8. The method of claim 7, wherein the securing element includes a tendon substitute.
9. The method of claim 8, wherein the tendon substitute includes an acellular matrix.
10. The method of claim 7, wherein the elongated tapered portion is inserted into a cavity formed in a metacarpal until an end face of an internal bulge of the implant circumferentially contacts a cortex of the metacarpal.
11. The method of claim 10, wherein the tapered neck is disposed between the internal bulge and an articulation bulge of the implant.
12. The method of claim 11, wherein the tapered neck has a cross-sectional area that is less than a cross-sectional area of the internal bulge and a cross-sectional area of the articulation bulge.
13. A method of reconstructing a carpometacarpal (CMC) joint of a thumb of a hand, comprising:
a) inserting an elongate tapered portion of an implant into a cavity formed in a metacarpal until an end face of an internal bulge of the implant circumferentially contacts a cortex of the metacarpal;
b) positioning a scaphoid such that the scaphoid is in contact with a proximal face of an articulation bulge of the implant;
c) stripping away a portion of a tendon to leave a distal attachment intact adjacent to the implant;
d) wrapping the tendon around a tapered neck of the implant to a point intersecting a remaining tendon at a palm side of the hand, the tapered neck disposed between the internal bulge and the articulation bulge of the implant such that the tapered neck encircles the implant in a direction that is substantially perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the elongate portion of the implant; and
e) suturing the tendon to the remaining tendon.
14. The method of claim 13, wherein the tapered neck has a cross-sectional area that is less than a cross-sectional area of the internal bulge and a cross-sectional area of the articulation bulge.
15. The method of claim 13, wherein the elongate tapered portion includes an annular cross section and a substantially constant taper.
16. The method of claim 13, wherein the tapered neck includes a concave arcuate juncture formed between a proximal surface of the internal bulge and a distal surface of the articulation bulge.
17. The method of claim 16, wherein the concave arcuate juncture is symmetric about a longitudinal axis of said implant.
18. The method of claim 16, wherein the concave arcuate juncture flattens out to include a low-arched central region.
19. The method of claim 13, wherein step c) includes stripping away a portion of a flexor carpi radialis (FCR) tendon.
20. The method of claim 13, wherein step c) includes stripping away a portion of an abductor pollicis longus (APL) tendon.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus comprising:
an acquisition unit which acquires first data in which a tissue of interest has higher signal intensity than a background and second data in which the tissue of interest has lower signal intensity than the background, with regard to images of the same region of the same subject; and
a generation unit which generates, on the basis of the first data and the second data, third data in which the contrast of the tissue of interest to the background is higher than those in the first and second data.
2. The magnetic resonance imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the tissue of interest is a blood vessel.
3. The magnetic resonance imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the generation unit performs weighting processing to weight a signal value indicated in at least one of the first and second data, and then generates the third data on the basis of the first and second data after the weighting processing.
4. The magnetic resonance imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the generation unit calculates, with regard to a plurality of positions in the region, a difference between the signal values indicated in the first and second data for the same position in the region, thereby generating the third data.
5. The magnetic resonance imaging apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising a setting unit which sets a rate of weighting on the basis of the relation between the first data and the second data,
wherein the generation unit performs weighting processing to weight the signal values indicated in the first and second data at the rate, and then calculates the difference with regard to the first and second data after subjected to the weighting processing.
6. The magnetic resonance imaging apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the setting unit sets the rate to maximize a signal-to-noise ratio in the third data.
7. The magnetic resonance imaging apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the acquisition unit collects the first data and the second data for each of a plurality of slices, and
the setting unit sets the rate in accordance with the positions of the slices in a slice direction.
8. The magnetic resonance imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the acquisition unit acquires the first and second data by use of a gradient echo method.
9. The magnetic resonance imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the acquisition unit acquires the first data and the second data regarding the same position by one RF excitation.
10. The magnetic resonance imaging apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the acquisition unit acquires the first data by use of gradient moment nulling (GMN), and acquires, as the second data, data to which a dephase gradient is added.
11. The magnetic resonance imaging apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a spatial fitter which reduces low-frequency components corresponding to background signals in the first and second data acquired by the acquisition unit, or emphasizes the high frequency components corresponding to the blood vessels,
wherein the generation unit generates the third data on the basis of the first and second data processed by the spatial filter.
12. The magnetic resonance imaging apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the acquisition unit acquires both first and second data by a multi-echo method while a contrast medium is put in the tissue of interest.
13. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus comprising:
an acquisition unit which acquires first data in which a tissue of interest has a higher signal intensity than a background and second data in which the tissue of interest has a lower signal intensity than the background, with regard to images of the same region of the same subject; and
a generation unit which generates third data indicating an image, the image being a composition of an image indicated by the first data and an image indicated by the second data to which different colors are allocated.
14. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus comprising:
a scan unit which executes, with regard to a region of interest of a subject, a first scan for data collection by a pulse sequence to obtain first image data in which blood vessel has a higher signal intensity than a background, and a second scan for collection by a pulse sequence different from that of the first scan to obtain second image data in which the blood vessel has a higher signal intensity than the background; and
a generation unit which generates, on the basis of the first image data and the second image data, third image data in which the contrast of the blood vessel to the background is higher than those in the first and second image data.
15. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus comprising:
a scan unit which executes, with regard to a region of interest of a subject, a first scan for data collection by a pulse sequence to obtain first image data in which blood vessel has a lower signal intensity than a background, and a second scan for collection by a pulse sequence different from that of the first scan to obtain second image data in which the blood vessel has a lower signal intensity than the background; and
a generation unit which generates, on the basis of the first image data and the second image data, third image data in which the contrast of the blood vessel to the background is higher than those in the first and second image data.
16. A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus comprising:
a collection unit which collects magnetic resonance signals emitted from a subject;
a reconstruction unit which reconstructs at least one dephase image and at least one rephase image on the basis of the collected magnetic resonance signals; and
a quantification unit which quantifies characteristics regarding the subject on the basis of both the reconstructed dephase image and rephase image.
17. The magnetic resonance imaging apparatus according to claim 16, further comprising a generation unit which generates a quantified image showing the quantified characteristics.
18. The magnetic resonance imaging apparatus according to claim 17, further comprising a unit which displays the quantified image.
19. The magnetic resonance imaging apparatus according to claim 17, wherein the collection unit collects the magnetic resonance signal by a gradient echo (GRE) multi-echo method.
20. The magnetic resonance imaging apparatus according to claim 19, wherein the collection unit collects magnetic resonance signals of dephase concerning a plurality of echo times, or collects magnetic resonance signals of rephase concerning a plurality of echo times, or collects a magnetic resonance signal of dephase concerning at least one echo time and a magnetic resonance signal of rephase concerning at least one other echo time, or collects a magnetic resonance signal of dephase concerning one echo time and magnetic resonance signals of rephase concerning two echo times or a magnetic resonance signal of rephase concerning one echo time and magnetic resonance signals of dephase concerning two echo times, or collects magnetic resonance signals of dephase concerning two or more echo times and magnetic resonance signals of rephase concerning at least two other echo times.
21. The magnetic resonance imaging apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the collection unit sets an echo time so that magnetic resonance signals from water and fat are in phase therewith.
22. The magnetic resonance imaging apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the quantification unit quantifies a flow effect in the subject.
23. The magnetic resonance imaging apparatus according to claim 22, wherein the quantification unit calculates a phase dispersion factor representing the degree of random phase dispersion due to various flow velocities and flows in various directions in order to quantify the flow effect.
24. The magnetic resonance imaging apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the quantification unit calculates an amplitude ratio or phase difference between the dephase image and the rephase image to quantify the characteristics regarding the subject.
25. The magnetic resonance imaging apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the collection unit makes a repetition time or an echo time shorter when a frequency in a k-space is low than when the frequency is high.