Image processing apparatus, image processing method, and magnetic resonance imaging apparatus

An image processing method, comprising:

• acquiring a magnetic resonance image;
• obtaining, based on the magnetic resonance image, a plurality of shift images having mutually-different shift amounts in a first direction and resulting from shifting positions of pixels included in the magnetic resonance image by the mutually-different shift amounts, wherein the obtaining of the plurality of shift images includes transforming the magnetic resonance image into k-space and then performing the shifting in k-space to produce the plurality of shift images as k-space data:
• generating a plurality of ringing-corrected images, by determining, with respect to each of the pixels included in each of the plurality of shift images, a shift amount from a position of the pixel to a position where ringing artifacts will be reduced and further performing a ringing correction to correct the ringing artifacts occurring in the shift images based on the determined shift amounts;
• and
• generating a combined image in which the plurality of ringing-corrected images are combined, by combining, while interleaving, pixels included in each of the plurality of ringing-corrected images.

A magnetic resonance imaging apparatus, comprising:

• processing circuitry configured to
• generate a magnetic resonance image;
• obtain, based on the magnetic resonance image, a plurality of shift images having mutually-different shift amounts in a first direction and resulting from shifting positions of pixels included in the magnetic resonance image by the mutually-different shift amounts, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to transform the magnetic resonance image into k-space and then perform the shifting in k-space to produce the plurality of shift images as k-space data;
• generate a plurality of ringing-corrected images, by determining, with respect to each of the pixels included in each of the plurality of shift images, a shift amount from a position of the pixel to a position where ringing artifacts will be reduced and further performing a ringing correction to correct the ringing artifacts occurring in the shift images based on the determined shift amounts;
• and
• generate a combined image in which the plurality of ringing-corrected images are combined, by combining, while interleaving, pixels included in each of the plurality of ringing-corrected images.