Determining phase-encoding direction for parallel MRI

A method, comprising:

• acquiring a first set of data from a phased array of coils in a parallel MRI (pMRI) apparatus, the first set of data being associated with projections along a first set of first spatial directions;
• determining a first set of encoding capabilities for the first set of spatial directions based on a signal decomposition of the first set of data;
• selecting a first phase-encoding direction based on the first set of encoding capabilities;
• acquiring a second set of data from the phased array of coils, the second set of data being associated with projections along a second set of second spatial directions, the second set of spatial directions being selected based, at least in part, on the first phase-encoding direction;
• determining a second set of encoding capabilities for the second set of spatial directions based on the signal decomposition of the second set of data;
• selecting a second phase-encoding direction based on the second set of encoding capabilities;
• and
• providing a signal corresponding to the second phase-encoding direction.

A pMRI apparatus, comprising:

• a phased array of signal receiving coils to receive MR signals;
• an image acquisition logic to reconstruct an image from the MR signals;
• and
• a phase-encoding direction selection logic to perform a signal decomposition on data acquired from the phased array of signal coils in response to the pMRI apparatus acquiring different projections in different directions, where the signal decomposition is to measure the encoding capability of the phased array for the different directions, and to select a phase-encoding direction for a pMRI session based, at least in part, on the encoding capability of the phased array as determined by the signal decomposition.