Ghost artifact cancellation using phased array processing

A system for canceling ghost artifacts in magnetic resonance imaging to produce an image or a series of images, comprising:

• an image reconstructer that receives k-space data and converts the k-space data to the image domain;
• a plurality of array combiners coupled to the image reconstructer, the array combiners being coupled in parallel;
• at least one shifter coupled in series between one of the array combiners and the image reconstructer;
• and
• an output combiner coupled to each of the array combiners that provides the series of images.

A system for canceling ghost artifacts in magnetic resonance imaging to produce a series of images, comprising:

• means for acquiring data using an array of receiver coils in a magnetic resonance environment, wherein the data is acquired using a phase encode order which causes k-space distortion to be periodic with a period corresponding to widely spaced ghost artifacts;
• means for converting the data to the image domain to produce images which have ghost artifacts;
• and
• means for canceling the ghost artifacts using phased array ghost cancellation processing to produce a series of images with ghost artifacts removed.

A method of canceling ghost artifacts in magnetic resonance imaging to produce an image or series of images, comprising:

• acquiring data using an array of receiver coils in a magnetic resonance environment, wherein the data is acquired using a phase encode order in which k-space distortion has components which are substantially periodic;
• converting the data to the image domain to produce images with ghost artifacts;
• and
• canceling the ghost artifacts using at least one phased array combiner that receives the image domain data and produces an image or series of images with ghost artifacts removed.