Magnetic resonance imaging apparatus and control method thereof

A control method of a magnetic resonance imaging apparatus including an imaging unit that measures a nuclear magnetic resonance signal generated from an examination target according to a predetermined pulse sequence, and an operation unit that performs an operation including image reconstruction using the nuclear magnetic resonance signal, the control method comprising:

• controlling the imaging unit to execute a main scan sequence based on an echo planar imaging method of applying, after one excitation RF pulse application, a readout gradient magnetic field, which has an application polarity that vibrates between positive and negative, and a blip-shaped phase-encoding gradient magnetic field, and measuring an echo signal and collecting k-space data each time the polarity of the applied readout gradient magnetic field is inverted, and a pre-scan sequence based on an echo planar imaging method of changing the application of the blip-shaped phase-encoding gradient magnetic field in the main scan such that the application is performed once per two inversions of the polarity of the readout gradient magnetic field;
• controlling the operation unit to divide reference k-space data collected in a pre-scan into first reference data consisting of a first echo signal obtained in a case where the application polarity of the readout gradient magnetic field is positive and second reference data consisting of a second echo signal obtained in a case where the application polarity of the readout gradient magnetic field is negative;
• generating at least two pieces of pseudo N/2 ghost data in which the first echo signal and the second echo signal are alternately arranged, using the first reference data and the second reference data;
• calculating a correction kernel for correcting N/2 artifact included in the pseudo N/2 ghost data using the pseudo N/2 ghost data;
• and
• correcting, using the correction kernel, the main scan k-space data collected by executing the main scan, and performing image reconstruction using the corrected k-space data.