Method for parallel spatial encoded MRI and apparatus, systems and other methods related thereto

A method for correcting spatially-related phase errors and restoring phase coherency among MR signals received substantially independently from a plurality of RF detectors forming a plurality of receive channels, the detectors being configured so as to form an array of detectors, said method comprising the steps of:

• applying a Fourier transform to the independently received MR signals so as to convert each received MR signal of each receive channel from k-space to image domain;
• applying a Hilbert transform to the magnitude of each converted signal in the image domain to generate minimum phase of the signal;
• and
• applying an inverse Fourier transform to convert each signal with magnitude and minimum phase from the image domain back to k-space.

A method for parallel spatial encoding MR image data that is frequency-encoded by MR gradient and sensitivity-encoded by a plurality of RF detectors of an RF detector array, said method comprising the steps of:

• applying an analytical transform function to generate weighting coefficients for a given spatial harmonic order and a given detector index;
• generating linear combinations of the MR image data that is frequency-encoded and sensitivity-encoded to generate a set of spatial harmonics that can encode spatial frequencies;
• and
• applying at least a one-dimensional Fourier transform to a k-space data set in which spatial frequency dimensions are fully encoded, thereby resulting in an MR image of an object being observed.

A method of magnetic resonance imaging of a continuous region of a body by conditioning nuclear spins and measuring RF signals indicative of the conditioned spins using a phased array of detectors, wherein the method includes performing multiple steps of spin conditioning and of collecting of RF measurement signal responses from the region, establishing an ordered data set of collected RF signals and performing a spatial transformation of the ordered data set to produce a magnetic resonance image of said region, wherein said performing a spatial transformation includes:

• synchronizing phases of the RF signals from the phased detector array;
• generating harmonics to replace phase-encoding steps;
• combining the harmonics by interleaving them to form a set of fully encoded ordered data;
• and
• applying a Fourier Transform to the fully encoded ordered data to reconstruct the magnetic resonance image of the region.

An MR signal detection and image reconstruction apparatus, for reconstructing the image of a region of a body being scanned, comprising:

• an MR signal detection device for detecting MR signals from the region being scanned including a plurality of detectors;
• an image reconstruction device, operably coupled to the MR signal detection device, that processes the detected MR signals and provides an output representative of the reconstructed image;
• and
• a program code for execution within the image reconstruction device, said program code comprising criteria and a sequence of instructions, said criteria and sequence of instructions including:
• acquiring one of a reference image or a sub-set of image data to obtain sensitivity profiles of the detectors;
• acquiring partial gradient phase-encoded signals from the detectors for each slice of the region being scanned;
• synchronizing phases of the MR signals from the plurality of detectors;
• generating harmonics to replace phase-encoding steps;
• combining the harmonics by interleaving them to form a set of fully encoded data;
• and
• applying a Fourier Transform to the fully encoded data to reconstruct the image.

An MR imaging system, comprising

• an MR signal detection and image reconstruction apparatus, for reconstructing an image of a predetermined region of an object being scanned, comprising:
• an MR signal detection device that detectings MR signals from the region being scanned, said detection device including a plurality of detectors;
• an image reconstruction device, operably coupled to the MR signal detection device, that processes the detected MR signals and provides an output representative of the reconstructed image;
• and
• a program code for execution within the image reconstruction device, said program code comprising criteria and a sequence of instructions, said criteria and sequence of instructions including:
• acquiring one of a reference image or a sub-set of image data to obtain sensitivity profiles of the detectors;
• acquiring partial gradient phase-encoded signals from the detectors for each slice of the predetermined region;
• synchronizing phases of the MR signals from the plurality of detectors;
• generating harmonics to replace phase-encoding steps;
• combining the harmonics by interleaving them to form a set of fully encoded data;
• and
• applying a Fourier Transform to the fully encoded data to reconstruct the image.